On Getting Oil Rig Job in Saudi Arabia

Recently, this site started to receive a very large number of requests from oil drilling contractors, oilfield servicing companies, including offshore oil rig operators, consultancies, and recruiters, asking to find suitable candidates to fill vacancies, available in oil & gas drilling companies/projects abroad, including fracking sector. Hundreds of oil rig jobs are just waiting for the taking, including vacancies in Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries of the Middle East. There are also requests from employers, offering oil drilling jobs in Canada, USA, UK, Australia, Dubai, Saudi Arabia. Some of them invite foreign immigrant workers to come and work in their country, while others look to crew oil drilling/exploration projects that they run or are about to start, operating onshore and/or offshore oil rigs (platforms, semisubmersibles, MODU's, FPSO jobs, drillships) in other jurisdictions in the world.

All of these requests share the same feature: following advice from their analysts the employers in oil drilling industry are concerned to hire oil and gas specialists from Russia, CIS and Eastern Europe as possible alternative both to their domestic workforce and traditional places like India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan etc. The oil rig job providers' choice can be explained by their desire to obtain a low-cost, but highly skilled low-end work force, as well as middle-level and even top managers and supervisors. When they say inexpensive labor force, they mean the salaries from $US 2 to 5 K a month. At the same time these oil drilling rig job providers do not want to hire candidates, especially greenhands, from Asia, because previous experience shows they tend to fit not very well into the team at oil production facility.

The salaries for the jobs can be paid both during stay and work at the facility and between the rotations. Employer pays for the work visa, provides free travel to the place, where the job is located, and medical insurance. The contracts last from 12 months to several years, and their duration usually depends on the willingness of the employee, provided he or she performs up to the hiring oil drilling company's management expectations.

Many of the job seekers find such conditions suitable and they would be more than happy to have a contract signed. Firstly, because doing a job for a reputed foreign oil drilling company would mean experience and employer's reference that could be included in one's CV/Resumé for the times to come. This line in the summary for the rest of oil rig worker's life could serve sort of a major password, capable to open the doors of any oil and gas company in the world in the future. Still there is one big 'but', it is the knowledge of the English language. Without speaking and writing English the work on oilfields in the Middle East, and in Saudi Arabia is simply impossible. Another obstacle may be the absence of the documents, confirming the candidate's professional training, education, certifications, and clearances in English, while the copies of such are required by the legislature of practically every country or state, where oil and gas drilling rigs can be found operating.

So, don't even apply, if you don't speak English, even if it is a simple low end job of Roustabout, Roughneck,or a Motorman that you are after. Any job seeker, who wants to work on oil rigs in Saudi Arabia should be ready to invest their money, time and energy on learning English.