Offshore Industry

I'm guessing there's more than a couple of posters here still involved in the offshore industry?

I've been involved with offshore service companies for over 19 years, offshore for more than 16 years. I've been paid off the last two Januarys but managed to keep myself involved in the same project by moving to the companies who have moved in to take over the contract we were on.

I now find myself sat at home not knowing what to do for the best. The boat i work on has been down manned till further notice. I don't know whether to look for work elsewhere or wait until these guys give me a shout again. They don't pay us for being at home so it's a bit off of them to expect us to hang about indefinitely waiting for them to give us a shout... i've been home 6 weeks already.

They say things are picking up in the industry but i haven't seen any real evidence of that myself.

Anyone else affected by this down turn? 

Enjoy Christmas and new year without thinking about it, and then start again in January.

There's a marginal pick up in the industry, but its small and I don't think it'll have a big impact on jobs in the short term. What will be interesting is if companies have permanently shed those jobs through efficiency or if we'll see a return to just throwing bodies at the next project or ten until things go tits up again. I suspect the latter, which I suppose is good if yer just looking for another short term job.

2017 is set to be another interesting political year, so it'll be interesting to see if that has an effect on the oil price.

Cheer for the reply Rico.

It's not easy to switch your mind off to the amount of money you're not making but you're right... i'm going to try and looking forward to Xmas as i wasn't supposed to be here for it. Thing is i had already mentally prepared myself for it. Anyway, that's what i'm going to do. 

Knowing my blooming luck i'll get called back around the 20th Dec. and screw up both my Xmas and New Year (I was originally due home on 30th Dec). 

I lost my job in May when company went bust, took 8 weeks to get something else, working in a call centre, before I took up another role in O&G. After a week they offered me promotion, which I took, even though the promotion is more sideways than upwards, but hey ho. Bad move though, the department I now work in is a joke and full of weegies. Nobody speaks much and never heard bitching anywhere else like I have here, the blokes are probably worse than the females. Nobody has a good word to say about anyone.

SO here I am 7 months after being made redundant working for 50% less than I was on previously and getting treated like shit for my efforts and also expected to be let go before XMas, but after May I have gave up worrying about it as outwith my control

Just do what you think is right, there is no loyalty in this industry, best of luck with whatever you choose.

I'm guessing there's more than a couple of posters here still involved in the offshore industry?

 

I've been involved with offshore service companies for over 19 years, offshore for more than 16 years. I've been paid off the last two Januarys but managed to keep myself involved in the same project by moving to the companies who have moved in to take over the contract we were on.

 

I now find myself sat at home not knowing what to do for the best. The boat i work on has been down manned till further notice. I don't know whether to look for work elsewhere or wait until these guys give me a shout again. They don't pay us for being at home so it's a bit off of them to expect us to hang about indefinitely waiting for them to give us a shout... i've been home 6 weeks already.

 

They say things are picking up in the industry but i haven't seen any real evidence of that myself.

 

Anyone else affected by this down turn? 

Sorry to hear that, it's a shite situation especially at Christmas but fingers crossed it picks up soon.

The subsea construction company I work for is going through a redundancy process for the second year in a row, sounds like I may get caught up in it this year too which is a bit of a concern.. Still a chance I'll escape it but if not it'll be a worry... doesn't seem to be much out there just now.

Just as well I've not got a wedding to save for next year or anything 

I'm out of it after 15 years working with and for BP in some form or another.

Now working for the government, hate it.

Sorry to hear that, it's a shite situation especially at Christmas but fingers crossed it picks up soon.

 

The subsea construction company I work for is going through a redundancy process for the second year in a row, sounds like I may get caught up in it this year too which is a bit of a concern.. Still a chance I'll escape it but if not it'll be a worry... doesn't seem to be much out there just now.

 

Just as well I've not got a wedding to save for next year or anything 

Good luck to you ED, hopefully you manage to slip under the redundancy radar again.

What's the employment situation like in Edinburgh anyway? I was always under the impression things were pretty buoyant down there...

I agree with whats been said, everyone I speak to thinks things will get better next year, it looks like the oil price is going higher so that always helps.

As you've also said, at this time of year sod's law says you will get a call on the 20th of December to go offshore!!!!

Stick in min, it will pick up again.

I was always under the impression things were pretty buoyant down there...

That's nae use, he's in subsea construction.

Aberdeen's bubble has burst. This isn't an informed opinion of an oil industry insider nor a typically cynical observation from this particular observer but rather the opinions of many of those locally who need to know. I think the recently highlighted future opportunities in decommissioning are telling.

Good luck to you ED, hopefully you manage to slip under the redundancy radar again.

 

What's the employment situation like in Edinburgh anyway? I was always under the impression things were pretty buoyant down there...

Cheers!

Back up in Aberdeen now, the edinburghdon username is a throwback to when I was at uni there years ago. Should really have changed by now!

Cheers!

 

Back up in Aberdeen now, the edinburghdon username is a throwback to when I was at uni there years ago. Should really have changed by now!

Is it true that Embra Uni has a particularly large proportion of odious wankers or is that just a rumour put about by persons of more real locations in Scotland? Unless you went to Napier or Herriot Watt or some equally irrelevant educational establishment to earn the job security you have now?

Edit: Mon min, ye got the have a laff in life. Humour doesn't always carry of course. Especially mine.

Aberdeen's bubble has burst. This isn't an informed opinion of an oil industry insider nor a typically cynical observation from this particular observer but rather the opinions of many of those locally who need to know. I think the recently highlighted future opportunities in decommissioning are telling.

I disagree, sort of. I think we'll see a proper technology shift in the next 5 to 10 years that'll see a lot of continued extraction in the North Sea. However, I don't think it'll involve lots of jobs.

I think we'll shut in until it becomes economic, and new technologies and new players will make it economic. I'm speaking development and production rather than exploration.

I disagree, sort of. I think we'll see a proper technology shift in the next 5 to 10 years that'll see a lot of continued extraction in the North Sea. However, I don't think it'll involve lots of jobs.

 

I think we'll shut in until it becomes economic, and new technologies and new players will make it economic. I'm speaking development and production rather than exploration.

Before we can agree or disagree, sort of or otherwise, we would have to define what I posted!

I'm no oil industry expert but when I say "the bubble has burst", it surely has? Aberdeen had enjoyed "a bubble" for a very long time. Where else in the U.K. had unemployment been so low and so many thick cunts earning big dough? That's changed in the last 18 months. So many redundancies and contractors and employees having to take sizeable pay reductions. My accountant was telling me last month that he's never seen anything like it. It's being reflected in the housing market and on the streets. My favourite local retailer is sinking more into his worldwide online sales and the shop, impressive as it is, isn't turning over nearly the same volumes and thus would be a city-wide trend.

And if there's no ongoing exploration then there's a known and finite amount of oil. The fact that so much of the remainder has become so expensive to access will indeed have a massive effect on jobs as does the lack of drilling and exploration. The R & D for new technologies and innovations will only get funded if it's economic and with such oversupply of easy oil coming out of the Middle East, particularly since Saudi influence has waned over the region then a lot of people have to wake up to the fact that things change. The biggest thing that's changed is that the North Sea isn't nearly as fruitful as it once was and given the future global political and economic climate, its role can only reduce further, not increase. Everything comes to an end. It's not dead of course, just that the good easy times have gone and so has "the bubble" with it. Some big shit has already hit the fan. That fan ain't getting cleaned any decade soon.

I hope you're right about the technology shift Rico because i believe we're currently looking through a window into the future. As Rocket says the industry is not finished but it's not going to go on forever so what does the area do? What do we in this region have to look forward to when the North Sea is winding down proper?

Without meaning to start a political debate this was the main reason for me voting YES in the indy ref two years ago.

With Aberdeen city and shire being the 3rd most populated area in Scotland a Scottish government couldn't have just sat back and allowed the region to sort out it's own future when the North Sea slows down. West Monster couldn't give a flying saucer about us up here, just like it didn't give a fuck about the North of England when they shut the pits, just like they didn't give a fuck about Glasgow when they took away the ship building or Lanarkshire when they shut Ravenscraig and the pits there. An indy Scotland would have had to have helped this area and prepared it so as not to have hundreds of thousands of people left fucked because our most important industry has gone tits.

I do fear for the future... or is that being a bit too dramatic?

Like i said at the start, i really hope Rico is right and there's new technologies moving to the area... will that be enough though?

I hope you're right about the technology shift Rico because i believe we're currently looking through a window into the future. As Rocket says the industry is not finished but it's not going to go on forever so what does the area do? What do we in this region have to look forward to when the North Sea is winding down proper?

 

Without meaning to start a political debate this was the main reason for me voting YES in the indy ref two years ago.

 

With Aberdeen city and shire being the 3rd most populated area in Scotland a Scottish government couldn't have just sat back and allowed the region to sort out it's own future when the North Sea slows down. West Monster couldn't give a flying saucer about us up here, just like it didn't give a fuck about the North of England when they shut the pits, just like they didn't give a fuck about Glasgow when they took away the ship building or Lanarkshire when they shut Ravenscraig and the pits there. An indy Scotland would have had to have helped this area and prepared it so as not to have hundreds of thousands of people left fucked because our most important industry has gone tits.

 

I do fear for the future... or is that being a bit too dramatic?

 

Like i said at the start, i really hope Rico is right and there's new technologies moving to the area... will that be enough though?

You've misunderstood fit I was saying. To answer Rocket as well, I said "I disagree sort of" with his original post. I think there will still be a bubble in the North East, just with a hell of a lot less people in it. So as Rocket describes in his second post, I tend to agree, but I think economically the North East will still generate a lot of dough. It'll  just be a lot less distributed.

I don't believe an independent Scotland would have dealt with the industry any differently/better either. There's not a political party in Scotland who would interfere. Nor should they in my opinion.

You've misunderstood fit I was saying. To answer Rocket as well, I said "I disagree sort of" with his original post. I think there will still be a bubble in the North East, just with a hell of a lot less people in it. So as Rocket describes in his second post, I tend to agree, but I think economically the North East will still generate a lot of dough. It'll  just be a lot less distributed.

 

I don't believe an independent Scotland would have dealt with the industry any differently/better either. There's not a political party in Scotland who would interfere. Nor should they in my opinion.

I'd tend to agree with this, especially if Aberdeen becomes the centre for decommissioning too.

As far as the government goes, we get a high level overview of oil and gas U.K. Meetings etc every so often and one point that's been raised so far is that the uk government has finally got a stable tax regime in place for the industry, which is doing quite a lot to rebuilt confidence in the industry, I don't believe an independent Scotland could have afforded to do that at this time sadly. Obviously there's more that could be done to offset the effects of the oil slump but at least the government is helping to some extent.

This was the most appropriately titled thread I could find for this. Anyway, Guardian article about the Transocean Winner which I enjoyed. A long one, but a good read. Excellent journalism.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/may/02/where-oil-rigs-go-to-die