Oil Rig Jobs

Are you in great physical condition, looking for an adventure, and for a job where earnings potential is high? There are more than a few people in the world seeking a job that combines all of those elements. But interestingly, the number of people seeking oil production jobs -- particularly on onshore and offshore oil rigs -- is not enough to fill demand.

The majority of entry-level jobs in the petroleum industry are in the ‘oil production’ sector. Generally, oil production is the process of drilling and extracting oil from underground (or underwater) reservoirs. The world’s oil production takes place both onshore and offshore. There's a good chance you've noticed oil rigs off the coast of California or in the Gulf of Mexico — or elsewhere in the world.

In U.S. controlled waters, thousands of oil platforms are either floating or attached to the ocean floor off the shores of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Many of these platforms are huge structures that house multiple drilling rigs and also house workers. Though some of the platforms can be moved, they are, for the most part, like self-sustaining steel islands, complete with helicopters pads. Once drilled, oil and gas are transported from the platforms through sub-sea pipelines to refineries located in the gulf states, especially in Texas and Louisiana.

Oil and Gas Pipeline Jobs

Pipelines not only carry the crude oil we need for refining, but much of the refined product as well, such as natural gas. There are over 200,000 miles of pipelines crisscrossing our nation pumping billions of gallons of oil and natural gas to collection points such as refineries, power stations, reserve tanks, and distributions stations, as you read this. To put that into perspective, the United States Interstate Highway System stretches for just 46,726 miles. Therefore, our petroleum pipeline network is over four times longer than our interstate highway system! It is by far the largest network of its kind in the world. Continental Europe does not even come close.

Careers in the petroleum pipeline industry are available and varied. This is no surprise given that pipelines can be found virtually everywhere across the globe, be it in cities, remote areas, near refineries, in towns, under the sea, and near electrical power plants and airports. For this reason, pipeline jobs offer potential candidates an incredible swath of terrains and climates to work in, be it offshore drilling platforms, the desert sands of the Middle East, Alaska, downtown New York City, fields in the Midwest, or in the deep southern states all along the Gulf Coast.

Pipeline jobs typically come in two flavors: direct-hire and contract work. Both typically offer superb benefits and sometimes relocation packages.

WRAPUP 1-Oil and gas cos to gain as costs fall, production rises

Oil and gas companies Goodrich Petroleum Corp (GDP.N), Brigham Exploration and Production Co (BEXP.O) and Penn Virginia Corp (PVA.N) reported quarterly losses, as commodity prices fell, but forecast a strong second half citing lower costs and rising production.

Demand for oil and natural gas has been hurt by the global economic slowdown. Growing stockpiles pulled down crude prices more than 50 percent in the second quarter from year-ago levels, while natural gas prices fell 65 percent.

Lower commodity prices have also brought down the cost to drill wells, allowing producers to get more for their money, boosting many exploration and production companies' quarterly results.

Earlier on Wednesday, Petroquest Energy Corp (PQ.N), Devon Energy Corp (DVN.N) and XTO Energy Inc (XTO.N) reported better-than-expected results and said they benefited from lower costs.

"One of the overarching themes that we have seen pretty much across the board as companies have reported is that they are simply getting more for less," Natixis Bleichroeder analyst Curtis Trimble said.

"Not only do you have a cost function that's stretching your dollars further, but also on the production side, the companies are simply getting more out of their wells due to refined completion programs, as compared to previous periods," he added.

Trimble said costs would decline further and might not pick up with the increased drilling activity.

"Outside a couple of localised instances, we won't see increases in service or equipment costs anytime soon," he said.

PRODUCTION VOLUMES UP

Penn Virginia, which reported an adjusted loss of 14 cents a share, compared with analysts' view of a loss of 13 cents a share, said its quarterly expenses fell 21 percent to $200.4 million. Net production volumes increased by 19 percent. [ID:nWNBB9962]

"As a result of our strong second quarter and first half results, we have kept our production guidance unchanged, with slight year-over-year production growth in 2009," company Chief Executive James Dearlove said in a statement.