The Oil and Gas Industry Is Seeing a Rebound

There is a growing need right now for persons willing to work on offshore oil rigs as the world economy continues to rebound from the recession. May oil rig workers were laid off as a result of lower oil prices but the industry is seeing a turnaround.

As the price of oil and natural gas rises, drilling activity is steadily increasing along the Gulf Coast.

When most people think of offshore rigs they think of drilling for oil, however natural gas drilling accounts for over two thirds of offshore drilling.

Offshore Oil Rig Jobs Vary Greatly

The types of jobs on offshore rigs include cooks and galley hands and housekeeping staff (among the lower paying jobs), roughnecks or floor hands, roustabouts, welders, painters, motor men, barge and crew-boat crew and more.

If you have any prior oilfield experience you should have no problem getting a job on an offshore record if you have a good work history and a clean criminal background. Some companies will hire if you have a blemish on your criminal record but any offenses involving drugs or violence will most likely rule you out.

Applicants for most jobs are required to have at least a high school degree or GED certificate.

The job of roustabout is about the easiest entry level job to get. It involves a lot of hard manual labor and long work hours. Roustabouts typically are involved in rig painting and sandblasting, unloading pipe and other kinds of physical work. Higher up the ladder are the roughnecks who do the most important jobs on the rig floor.

This highly skilled job requires many hours of training. The job of the roughnecks is to make connections in the drill pipe using pipe tongs or an automatic device known as an "iron roughneck". Roughnecks "trip pipe" or lower  and raise the many joints of drill pipe into and out of the hole when drill bits, etc, need to be changed.

Rig workers usually work twelve hour shifts called tours which is pronounced like "towers". An offshore hitch may last seven to fourteen days with that much time off at home.

Roustabout jobs are a good job to get your feet wet in the offshore oil and gas industry and from that job you can work your way up the career ladder.

Some offshore rig jobs offer salaries of over $100,000 or more but require years of experience.

Due to "peak oil" or the worldwide scarcity of oil it looks like the offshore job market will continue to grow for a long time, even as other jobs are hurt by the rising cost of oil.

Be Willing To Be Gone For A While

One of the drawbacks to offshore drilling rig jobs is the amount of time that you are away from home. For employees of the drilling company the tours are usually from two weeks to a month, depending on how far away from land the rig is located. Overseas the duration of a tour can be a month or more on the rig with equivalent time off. Two weeks on and two weeks off are the standard for coastal drilling rigs in the U.S.

One must be willing to be gone for that long and have an understanding and supportive spouse or partner. There is no coming and going from an offshore rig, except for the most dire family emergencies since transportation costs are so high.

Use a Variety Of Search Methods For Offshore Oil Rig Jobs

To find an offshore oil rig job try sites like Rigzone.com and Texasoilfieldjob.com.  Search the local classifieds of major offshore drilling centers, such as Houston Texas for job postings. You may also try sites like Monster.com for service company jobs related to oil and gas drilling.