Few industries offer the sheer diversity of employment that is
available in the oil industry. It鈥檚 a global industry in which the key
players are vast multinational concerns. From exploration and production
to manufacturing and through to selling products at the petrol station
and elsewhere, the lists of occupations and specialisms of those working
in the oil industry is extensive.
Oil exploration requires not only a know-how of geology and geophysics
but also of electronic engineering. Contract companies such as Western
Geophysical, Isleworth, undertake aerial and seismic surveys. Analysis of
the geological structures several thousand feet below ground level
needs people who can install, operate and maintain seismic equipment, and
those able to input the data collected and turn them into mathematical
models, interpret the results and map the discovery. People with
degrees in electronics, geology, geophysics and physics are welcome
here.
The drilling of wells is done by specialists, including
鈥渞oughnecks鈥� and mechanical engineers employed by drilling
contractors. The drilling operation is overseen by petroleum engineers and
geologists. Some oil companies recruit scientists and train them to
become petroleum engineers, others recruit from the two master鈥檚
degree courses in the subject at Imperial College and Heriot-Watt
University. Their job is to assess the economic viability of an
oilfield and deciding how to extract the maximum yield from it.
Advertisement
Well-site geologists, often people with a postgraduate degree in
petroleum geology, oversee the geological aspects of drilling and
supervise the so-called 鈥渕ud loggers鈥�, supplied by companies such as
Geoservices, in Mesnil, France. Their job is to collect and analyse the
rock chippings which come up as wells are being drilled. Companies such as
Schlumberger, employ 鈥渨ire-line loggers鈥� skilled at lowering detection
equipment into the wells and collecting information about the geology and
the nature of the oil-bearing rocks. All this information is fed into
the oilfield model that the petroleum engineers and geologists
continually develop. A developed oilfield will tend to consist of several
wells and to produce both oil and gas.
The world of oil rigs, well-site equipment, pumps and pipelines
belongs to another group of specialist contractors, such as Brown and
Root, Wimbledon. Their engineers design, construct and install such
equipment and, if its destination is the bed of the North Sea, just
getting it there can be a problem of immense proportions. Anyone
working in oil exploration and production must be prepared to work
anywhere around the world.
The next stage is refining and manufacturing. BP鈥檚 plant at
Grangemouth, Shell鈥檚 at Ellesmere Port and Esso鈥檚 at Fawley, Southampton,
are all dedicated to this purpose. These refineries are designed and built
by chemical, mechanical, electrical and control engineers employed by
specialist contractors such as M. W. Kellogg, Greenford, and Bechtel,
London. The logistics of supplying all the parts and building up the
plant on site is their responsibility.
Oil companies do not simply refine oil, they manufacture a broad range
of high-quality products, from tar for the roads through to lubricating
oil and petroleum. They also manufacture a huge range of chemicals as
by-products of the process. Refineries regularly recruit chemical
engineers to supervise the production plant, usually on a shift basis to
keep the plant running 24 hours a day. Maximising efficiency, reducing
waste, producing products in the required quantities and maintaining
the plant for economic production are an integral part of their role. A
trainee engineer may start with responsibility for a section of plant.
Later he or she may develop new processes and products on small-scale
pilot plant. Senior engineers manage entire production facilities
or become involved in the logistics of coordinating the whole
operation, from storing the oils鈥攖heir base, raw material鈥攖o distributing
the final products.
快猫短视频s and engineers working in research and development back up
all these activities. Esso has an R&D department at Abingdon, BP at
Sunbury and Shell at Thornton, Chester, and Amsterdam. The work of the
R&D division is just as broad as the other divisions. Developing novel
lubricants with new additives, producing systems to extract more oil
from the wells, and investigating material problems, such as the cracking
or deterioration in pipelines or oil rigs, are just three areas on their
agenda. Chemists, materials scientists, physicists, mathematicians and
engineers all have a part to play here. Oil products have, of course, to
be sold. Many companies like to have scientists, particularly chemists, on
their sales teams for their specialist products. A good scientific
background is essential when discussing the advantages of specific
products with customers.
Environmental considerations are becoming increasingly important.
Companies must continuously monitor new legislation which the European
Union and governments around the world are contemplating, and research how
best to implement them efficiently. Shell International Renewables is
working on renewable sources of energy including solar, biomass and
forestry for which it says it will soon be recruiting.
The top oil companies (BP, Esso and Shell) have each been
recruiting some 40 new graduates this year. They seek high-quality
applicants and pay starting salaries of about 拢21 000. A spokesperson from
BP鈥檚 recruitment department says that although there have been some
problems attracting electronic and instrumentation engineers, the company
has filled most of its vacancies quite easily. Shell Malaysia regularly
visits Britain to recruit Malysian nationals studying at British
universities. However, currently it is saying that the economic
downturn in the region has dramatically affected its current recruitment
drive.
Numbers of vacancies in the oil industry tend to go up and down with
the oil price. Esso does all its exploration and production in Britain in
conjunction with other companies and so doesn鈥檛 recruit into these
jobs. BP and Shell recruit in Britain for jobs all over the world.
Mobil has merged its downstream European operations with BP but
recruits for exploration and production in Britain.
As with all businesses, oil companies need information
technologists. From systems designed to monitor finances, stock control,
distribution and sales, to those needed to optimise the running of
refineries, today鈥檚 oil companies cannot do without IT. And those with
many sites around the world also need good communication systems.
Modelling and mapping oilfields is another area where IT has a
contribution. Shell, for example, provides an IT consultancy service
for its diverse businesses and recruits not only graduates with
relevant disciplines but also selects and trains people with
qualification in any subject, especially those with an aptitude for
programming and systems analysis. The company says it now has 10
vacancies.