I used to work offshore oil rigs - ama

[offshoreoily]

Bit bored tonight so thought I’d post an ama! Worked in the oil industry over 25 years. 10 of those on offshore oil rigs and platforms in various locations worldwide

Have RTOC made a difference? Do you find you can monitor more from onshore?

Pretty much everything can now be monitored from onshore and a lot of what I do now is based on real time interactions with the rig.
it’s a funny one because as it became more common, it was a pain in the arse becaue “what do town want now” hahah
obviously it helps with real time decisions having easy access to people with lots of experience. But it’s still necessary to have qualified and experienced people on site

Interesting - thank you.

What was your least favourite rig (or maybe you don’t want to say!)

Hah, I’ve probably blanked some of them from my memory. I doubt it’s much to do with the rigs themselves but probably the experiences I’ve had on them.
There was a land rig I worked on in Indonesia, with no access to accommodation, food from the jungle, crew that would only work for bribes.
Rigs I’ve been sent off from, becaue im female - so can’t be accommodated.
rigs with porn plastered top to bottom of the rooms.
it’s never so much the rig that’s the problem - but the management

Thank you - the Indonesian one sounds particularly grim.

Still, lots of war stories (and living to tell the tale) is proof of an interesting life!

Yeah it’s a funny one, as I never particularly talk about my past as it feels so uncomfortable. Probably one of the reasons I started this AMA.
its so disconnected from most peoples experiences it’s a strange one to discuss!

My DH and friends did seismics - it was still quite wild in the 80s / 90s, a bit Boys Own adventures, frequently involving dynamite.

I did a few offshore trips in the early 2000s but with a small DC at the time decided I had other priorities and switched to something completely different. I do remember turning up one time and they were a bit aghast at a woman turning up (mainly because they had to rapidly reshuffle accommodation).

What an interesting thread. Thank you.

Do you feel that AI will have much impact on this industry and jobs within it?

With concerns about oil / gas and climate in mind, what are your predictions for the next ten years. Will school and university leavers go into renewables in preference to the oil and gas industry, for example?

Are you from the UK? (Just wondering if you know my DH - it can be a pretty small world) 😂

Great ama Op, thank you!

The industry is obviously exploring AI at the moment. I think all industries will be impacted in some way or another, however there’s a while before it can be trusted. Until then it still needs sense checking and quality control. I initially believed AI would happen a lot quicker than it has….at this moment it’s not impacted my role and there’s a lot of hesitation with it.

with regards to climate change the industry is already suffering from closure of university courses and lack of interest from the next generation understandably based of the current narrative. The issue is we’re stopping tracking oil and gas yet starting teaching an unproven replacement.

even if oil and gas becomes a secondary energy resource it’s still necessary for plastics, clothes etc etc .
I also strongly believe the people involved in hydrocarbon extraction are also the ones with the knowledge to provide the answers to decarbonisation so should not be demonised based on a changing attitude

I am! Maybe I do! But it’s a small yet not so small world!

I think lots of people tend to rotate through the same hubs so often know people that know people.

Yes absolutely , one of the beautiful things about the industry is having connections worldwide

My DH had a colleague called Mike that was forever getting mixed up with another Mike with the same surname in the company, but in a different country. Took me ages to work out that the other Mike had been a mate on my uni course (we never called him by his first name). Was a good excuse to get back in touch!

It really is a small world.

Yeah times have changed! And they’ve changed a lot since I was out there. Towards the end of my “thether” I put my foot down and shut down a rig or two based on sexism!

How did covod affect life on a rig? It seems pretty isolating anyway, did anything change?

I wasn’t consistently working offshore at that point. Impacts varied worldwide, but it was consisdered an essential job, so pretty much same as elsewhere

Really interesting AMA, thank you OP

In my case I have a very unisex name so I can’t really blame them for expecting a bloke.

Good for you in calling out sexism, I bet they didn’t think women could have balls.