I wouldnt work for slb unless it was the last place on earth. They ruined the company i worked for when they bought it out. Never heard of any overtime being paid out here. Like it was said before its usaully a day rate. The field pays more then an office job. Theres a lotta hands with rig experience looking so you have to keep up with that. As far as a company truck, lot of rules go with having one of those now. All 3 of the directional place i worked for pay a truck allowance along with mileage. Lot better deal if you dont want the hassle of a tracker in a truck. Try rigzone.com if your looking for a job. Not to many places offer a relocation pkg. Midland-odessa is a high place to rent a place for a pos area. Per diem only applies if you stay out at locations last i knew, 450 per day is high for someone with no oilfield skills. We had trainees when i was at slb that only made 60k a yr if they were lucky. mind you thats for a directional drilling operation position too. Also depending on what you do in the field, be prepared to be away from the house for days or even weeks. i'm gone anywhere from 15 to 45 days and only home for about 7 to 10.

 

in defense of SLB (and HAL, WFT, BH, and other large companies), they tend to ruin every little guy they buy up. Mostly because they have a way of doing things and that is usually not the way the smaller companies do things.
One of my HAL buddies gets 1/3 of his per diem for every 8 hours he is out of the shop.
I've talked to MPD guys making $700/day offshore sitting in the shack on skype with their wife for the first half the night and their local girl friend for the second half.

 

Have you tried noble,diamond, transocean, look also on rigzone.com alot of companys hiring most like military background especially if you have an electrical are mech background.

 

There are a number of companies looking to hire, just depends where you wanna go. I myself live in central Texas and work weekly in South Texas. I'd look at CC Forbes, Trican, Fesco, Key, just to name a few. We deal alot with Baker Hughes, they do our fracs, we see MiSwaco, Manning, and numerous other companies, there are so many in the eagleford right now. We build Batteries/pipelines/Flare setups for a company called Abraxas, and also do the same for Enduring resources in Barnhart out west. But in your case, you could be a consultant or pretty much any type of supervisor you wanna be, entry level will train you to step up as far as you wanna go.

Make sure you ask about hazard pay if you will be on location. Lots of companies will neglect to mention it if you let them.

 

Never heard anything bad about the others. Experienced the slb bs firsthand. Also have talked to other former slb hands and they say the same thing. i watched slb run one of the best directionaal outfits into the ground so they wont have to compete with them. If those guys are making 750 with no experience then i know a lot of seasoned lead directional hands that are getting ripped off. Never heard of hazard pay when on location, seems silly when you know the job is hazardous.

 

When you're around h2s, hazard pay is a must IMO, ppl don't know of the adverse effects and 1-5 ppm can cause chronic poisoning, vision loss, inability to distinct the smell, among other things. They don't call it the silent killer for nothing. Everyone we work around is getting extra pay on top of their checks for being around it on location. Again it just depends where you are. Silly, maybe for someone who wants to act tough lol. Ill not take any chances.

 

Wow! So pretty much what I offered to the lady on the phone was a pretty fair price then? I definitely didn't consider all that you are suggesting. I know I would be entry level, but when I look at my cousin, within a year he started making more than my Uncle (mud engineer), however, he has been going overseas as well, so I know the pay is there, which caught me off guard when the lady made it sound like I was way out of the ball park. If I were to get to the next step and decide to get out I will remember to ask about what you said.

Yeah you are right Pistol. I just don't want to be stuck behind a desk, I have gained a lot of experience in the Military. I do want a job that captures that experience since that is where it would be most beneficial, in my opinion, to both the company and myself. I am okay working for it, which is why I was surprised with the job BH was looking to hire me into. I never thought about Project Management. There is definitely a lot more to look into and consider.

I'm still on the fence about re-enlisting. I know it is probably foolish, which is why I would do the reserves for the last bit so I didn't throw it completely away. I have gone back and forth on this all year long. I am a planner and I like to be able to plan 2 to 3 months ahead, especially for big life changes such as this. I promised my wife that unless the doors completely close now, that I will re-enlist by October time frame. You have given me a lot to think about. I really appreciate it!

 

Wow, I'm working for the wrong company!! I'm a cementer for Halli, 8 years now. I've always been paid hourly, and I'm at the highest pay grade I can get to before moving to salary, which ends up being a pay cut!! I get 25/hr, 13 hours a day, plus 169 day offshore bonus. Right now I'm off the east coast of Nicaragua on a special project, so I get an extra $91 a day. 28 days on, 28 off, with no pay on days off.
When I work offshore in the gulf I work 14/14, same pay rate & offshore bonus, but I have to pay my commute, whether it be plane tix or I drive. I don't get reimbursed for it at all.
I've actually been thinking of transferring over to our MPD division. Going to be looking into it when I get home in a couple more weeks.

 

Thanks Rich! I tried SLB before, was contacted via email, and after telling him when i could start, and giving him a few dates/times to call, the call never came. I applied for an Electrical Technician job. My Uncle who works for them as well as quite a few folks on here said ET's were in high demand. So I was surprised the call never came, then I started reading a little bit about what you said. My Uncle who works for M-I said things took a big turn after the merger and hadn't been very pleased with it.

Midland - my whole family hails from there. Though I think I have only been there once for one of the annual family reunion rendezvous'.

I'm not sure exactly how big Amoco was, but I remember my grandfather telling me after BP bought them out, along came with all of their rules that guys were getting fired over. Not sure if it is still like that, but I recall him saying he couldn't even carry his pocket knife any more unless he wanted to be fired. I guess it is the little things that add up that can make a big mess, especially when someone is use to doing business a certain way for 30 years.

I have not tried any of them. Thank you for the suggestions.

Right on! Thanks Rip. Personally, we wanted to go back to Farmington initially for my family's sake to be around family when I'm out in the field, then decided if elsewhere is what gets me in the door, then so be it. Not knowing any more about BH than what I read on their website, one thing I liked was their structured training program with timelines to ensure you grow or go...at least that is how I looked at it. Thank you for the list of companies.

My Uncle who has been with SLB for 20 years said, while it grows old, he wouldn't trade it for anything, but looks forward to the day he can retire. The way he made it sound, made me ponder for a minute. Maybe he was hiding something from me lol. When I looked into them, I liked the structured nature, but was warned about how big they are. I think after that SLB recruiter never called, I probably won't apply with them again.

You definitely make a good point Rip. Though, just as Rich said, I never would have expected hazard pay as I thought the large pay was there to make up for all the hazards that come along with it. I see it being a secret companies don't easily give away. Since you broke the ice on that one, I will keep that in my pocket.

 

Sounds a bit like the schedule my cousin is doing with M-I. While we were in Farmington last month he was out in Argentina doing a project. He is in his second year now.

 

Not acting tough, very familiar with h2s. was on a well last yr where we had 10,000 ppm coming across the shakers. Had one rig hand die on one rig and this yr have heard of 2 other dying on nearby rigs. None of it from h2s tho. We all get training for it, but as far as any directional company none that i know of pay hazard pay.
Like i said before rigzone.com has tons of job listings.

 

If you were talking with a headhunter, they might not be well versed on the oil field. Its another animal.

I agree there are alot of rules that make no sense. Instead of engineering out dangers, we are still trying to administer them out.

 

rich, no pun intended, we dont really deal with the drilling side, but I know of many on the frac and coil tubing side especially hydraulic fracking and many of the safety services (safety assurance services, Manning) we work with do get a hazard pay. All of the wells we work on were around 3000-15000 ppm at the beginning, dwindled down to 500-1200ppm when in production, more than enough to drop you in less than a minute. And with the high heat making h2s more volatile for flash explosions, to me theres not enough money they could pay to make us do these jobs, its alot of pride for what we do that keeps me there. But in a sense I see what youre saying, some prob dont offer hazard pay and if they did, it would offset the pay anyways. Main thing is be safe out on location, and never think you are being too safe.

 

Now it makes sense on the hazard pay, i forget about the production side since i'm long gone and drilling another one when those guys show up. Your right tho the first time you get to comfortable is when it will bite you in the butt.

 

Yeah I think that is all she was. Now if I could get a hold of a hiring manager....I'd be in business.

--------break--------

Sorry for the late reply all, between the midnight shift, school, and little minions running around, it's tough getting on here at times.


Thanks again for the tips everyone...

Pistol, thank you for the guidance or mentoring if you will.

I'll keep ya'll posted over the next month or so as I continue to weigh my options, and let you know the path I end up taking.

Stay safe everyone who is out in the field or doing other dangerous jobs.


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