After my recent post about Opportunities for Offshore Jobs recently, I believe many will want to be able to search for jobs easily and effortless. I mean not only Offshore jobs, but also chemical engineering jobs, other engineering jobs, any engineering managerial jobs and so on. There are so many jobs available that we need to know a simple and easy way to get the list and send our CV to them. You many want to search for jobs anywhere in your country or perhaps try to seek for other opportunities in foreign countries. It's totally your choice.
For that purpose, I would like to share with you something that I found few days ago which is very user friendly and easy to use to search for the perfect engineering jobs (or other jobs as well).
It is very easy that what you need to do is simply fill up the two boxes in the form below. The first box that shows "what" needs you to fill up the type of job you want, for instance, "chemical engineer, process engineer, maintenance engineer, production manager, operation manager and so on..." . The next box, showing "where" requires you to fill up the location of the job that you want. For example, if you want to search a job in Singapore, then you can fill up Singapore in the second box. If you want to search the job in United Kingdom, United States, Arab Saudi, Malaysia, Dubai or so on, you can simply fill it up with the location of your choice. After that, just hit / press the "FIND" button.
Just try it out and you will be surprise to see the number of listed jobs available for you to choose. It will be displayed immediately. What you need to do after that is to browse and click on the job(s) that you like or wish to apply or need information. That's it. As simple as that.
As a chemical engineering student, I must admit that I have always wondered how it feels like to work offshore in a petroleum company or any oil and gas servicing company. During my second year study in Bradford University (14 years ago), I was offered an internship with Exxon Mobile. I was so anxious and proud to be offered an internship by such a successful multinational company. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, I was not able to participate. It was such a disappointing moment.
Myself on a boat in front of a small platform
6 years after that, I managed to set foot on an offshore platform in the middle of South China Sea. It was my first time flying in a helicopter to a Bekok C, a gas gathering platform owned by Petronas Carigali Berhad. That time I worked for a local oil and gas servicing company and my role was to investigate the reason why the hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) level was so high in its offshore facility. I traveled with our very experience principal from a Canadian Oil and Gas Servicing company. The first trip to an offshore platform was very exciting, interesting and simply amazing.
Few months after that, I regularly traveled to several other offshore platforms in South China Sea. This time my role was to conduct bottle test to understand the oil condensate problems and suggest suitable specialty chemicals to treat and stimulate the well. This is because after several years of operation, the offshore platform will face low production due to massive drilling of the oil. Some of the oil well produces more emulsion, more water, more unwanted compounds rather than the black precious oil.
During my stay in those offshore platforms, I observed the work and life of people on it. I also observed the kind of work that were carried out on an offshore oil rig platform. There are numerous jobs that can be done by various level and skills of workers. Read on, this may interest some of you. You don't need to graduate or be a chemical engineer to work on offshore oil rig platform.
In layman terms, let me briefly share the types of jobs available. In no particular order, there are chemist, chemical engineer, petroleum engineer, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, technician, fitter, welder, crane operator, cleaner, cook, chef, forklift driver, lab technician, domestic worker, manager, superintendent, medical officer, radio controller, pilot, captain/helmsman (drives boat/ship), safety/HSE officer,
Well, based on my experience and from some references, I can categorize the job scope or work on a offshore platform to be (1) Leasehand (2) Floorhands (3) Motorhand (4) Derrickhand (5) Driller (6) Rig Manager (7) Etc.
Leasehand
Leasehand offshore oil rig positions are entry-level. The position exists to help inexperienced individuals become familiar with the activities around an oil rig. The requirement for this position is very minimum that I believe having secondary school certificate/education is already sufficient. Individuals beginning as Leasehands can move up to the position of Floorhand within a short period of time depending on their ability, experience and availability of other positions at the offshore oil rig platform.
Among the duties of a leasehand are they may be required to load and unload trucks, manage laundry, sweep.clean floor, dig ditches, build fences, and assist other crew members with maintenance and pre-job preparedness. Leasehands are also responsible for various other housekeeping on the off-shore rig.
Floorhands
Floorhands on oil rigs spend a lot of time working on the offshore oil rig offshore platform. In general, Floorhands will perform cleaning and maintenance job, assist in laying casing into a well after it has been drilled, wrench-like tongs to smoothly and quickly connect and disconnect the lower parts of the drill pipe when it is being lowered into and raised from the hole, catch samples of drilled cuttings to be analyzed, and assist other members of the oil rig crew wherever needed. Besides that, Floorhands are also responsible in housekeeping duties around the offshore oil rig as well the rig. Floorhands tasks is more critical than a Leasehand.
Motorhand
An experienced Floorhand may move into the position of Motorhand. Motorhands, as with all positions, do not earn their position by equipment knowledge and function alone. It is earned by basic training, achieving safe work ethics, knowledge of procedures and following those procedures. A Motorhand can already be considered skillful worker.
Power tong operators handling hydraulic power tongs
Motorhands are responsible for operating and maintaining the engines that power the drilling equipment which include turn the rotary table, run the draw-works to hoist the drill pipe, and circulate the drilling fluid. In addition to that, Motorhands also operate boilers, maintain a supply of hand tools, lubricate moving parts, ensure emergency shut-offs are tested and operational, regularly check tongs and spinning chain, and help other members of the crew. Motorhands are also responsible for helping to train Floorhands and Leasehands. In certain cases, this group of people are also called power tong operators who operate hydraulic power tongs that are used to connect casing.
Derrickhand
An experienced Motorhand may move into the position of Derrickhand. Derrickhands work in the derrick on offshore oil rigs, high above the rig floor on a platform called a monkeyboard. Derrickhands must use harness and platform climbing device to get to the proper position on the derrick when drill string or casing pipe is being raised from or lowered into the hole. Derrickhands most important tasks are to guide the lengths of pipe into and out of the elevators, and steady each pipe while it is being connected to or disconnected from the drill or casing string.
Driller
The Driller is in charge of the operation of the rig and crew during their tour. They are primarily in control of operating the oil rig and hoisting equipment, and managing the rig floor and driller's console which includes brakes, throttles, clutches and various gauges. By watching various instruments and gauges closely, the Driller makes adjustments as conditions require. Drillers are responsible for the drilling equipment, and for ensuring that the oil rig crew performs its job safely and efficiently, and within the regulatory requirements of the industry. Often that I observed, the oil company will contract this job to oil and gas servicing company to perform the drilling job.
Rig Manager
In some places, Rig Manager is also referred to as Plant Superintendent. He is fully responsible of his oil rig he is in charge off. He is also responsible for all the paperwork generated at the rig (P.O.'s, tour sheets, reports, etc.) that they must ensure are filled out completely and properly. The electronic tour sheets have to be sent in daily. To do all this, the toolpush needs a reliable crew. This person is on call 24 hours a day.
The Rig Manager coordinate the work of the crews and individuals on each rig under their supervision as well as the work of any additional service hands that may be required. Rig Managers normally learn their job through on the job training by working up through the ranks of the basic crew. This experience is vital in order to supervise the oil rig operations, take over running of the rig in emergencies, or assist in times of peak load particularly during rig-up or rig-down operations. Rig Managers must always exhibit superior leadership, excellent managerial skills and precise organizational skills.
Those are among some jobs that I can think off. If you can think of other jobs, please kindly let me know. Cheers.
Offshore provides a rich editorial blend of international
news and technology for marine/offshore operations around the world.
Topics covered include seismic services, exploration, drilling,
production, processing, pipelining, operating problems and design
solutions. The publisher of this magazine isPennWell Corporation. To get this FREE magazine, click HERE.
2nd Image credited to its-energyservices.com/services/casing_running/
Few years ago I was practicing my chemical engineering skill and knowledge in refineries and offshore facilities. Now that I am more focus in chemical engineering research and development, I must admit that I missed those moments. But hey, that's fine. Being in the research field is not bad at all. I am now in the frontier of seeking, researching and developing new knowledge especially in the reaction engineering area.
Being in this field, I am keeping myself pretty much busy with new information, new research publications, new product prototypes, new patented technology/product and so on. Honestly, it is very interesting and amazing to get in touch with the advancement of technology. I'm developing and understanding the process of converting glycerol to olefins, a technology which is still in its infancy stage.
My wife in the other hand is also a researcher like me but she is specialized in separation engineering subject, an important topic under chemical engineering. For her PhD she studied a more focused topic under separation engineering which is progressive freeze concentration, a field which has not been touched by any researcher in our country. During her PhD she designed a crystallization chamber to study the rate and effectiveness of ice crystal formation.
It is tough to design an effective and efficient crystallization chamber (CC). Her first design of the CC looked neat, compact and small. However, after running several tests on the CC, the solute leaks and ice crystal failed to form. Several other unexpected problems emerged and it was finally concluded that the CC cannot be used. She was at the end of her 3rd semester at that time and having a failed CC is the last thing she or any PhD student want to happen.
This is the basic designed of the improved CC
She then studied the failed CC, held several discussions with supervisors, technology experts, suppliers etc and make numerous improvements on the CC design. She identified and engaged with a contractor whom provided a prototype very quickly. This is something that’s always amazed me: rapid prototyping services (such as this one from Omega Plastics). The speed and accuracy of the prototyping is like something from a sci fi film. The contractor studied her research and design requirements and later came out with a 3D design of the new improved version of the CC. The design is indeed a prototype of a new type of CC. After a month, the new stainless steel CC was successfully fabricated and tested. The new CC was proofed to be effective and excellent when applied for progressive freeze concentration study. The designed was then patented and my wife obtained her PhD in 2010 (besides publishing her work in various conferences and journals).
This is the improved version of the CC
My wife fought her battle and won it. I'm now in the same battle to complete my Ph.D. It is not easy and it requires serious efforts, sacrifices and hard work. Why is that? Simply because we are studying something new and our output (discovery) is to contribute to the advancement of new knowledge to the academic and research community. My journey is almost there. I just need to work a little bit more to complete everything and submit my thesis.
If you are currently working on your doctorate study, I would like to wish you the best of luck and keep up the good work ethics + discipline. For those who plan to do so, be mentally prepared and plan your research work wisely.
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I still remember when I was a process engineer in my first working week, I attended an in-house training about "High Voltage" in our refinery. It was presented by my colleague whom is a "charge man" (a person who is a competent person handling industrial scale power/electricity (3 phase) and other electrical power related stuffs). From there, I learned that a refinery must have reliable power supplier, equipments, facilities and expert people such as charge man and qualified technicians to manage the power and control part of a refinery.
Among the fundamental element to this is the industrial cables. I still recall on the second floor of the control room of the refinery that I was in charged last time, there were numerous cables with various sizes, shapes, colour and quality. All this cables are imperative in connecting various digital input (DI), digital output (DO, analog input (AO), analog output (AO) signals to controllers/servers/power system such as Yokogawa and Siemens as well as cable for inverters and electrical current. Well, there were many more to this which I am not really an expert to share in depth about this. All of this aspect was often over looked by person like me (chemical engineer) because that time, I was mainly focus on process engineering part. In conjunction to that, I think it would be great to share briefly about industrial cables used in plants and refineries.
Numerous cables for variety of industries
Actually, industrial control cables such as the one available in my plant are just one of the different types of
them which are used in modern industry. There are a wide range of them
required by various industries including automotive, data
transmission, information technology, telecommunications, data communication distribution, construction, military, mining, and many more. Companies dealing with them provide state of the art
sophisticated technology in manufacturing and exporting cables of
various designs and capabilities.
Types of cables
Among the different types of them
are electrical control wire, fiber optic ones, house wiring ones, PVC
ones, rubber ones, fire survival ones, instrumentation ones and control
ones among others. There are leading industrial cable companies
which design, develop, market and distribute copper, aluminum, fiber
optic wire and cable products for energy, industrial, specialty and
communication markets. Among them is Eland Cables. Companies like this offer great quality, distribution, logistics and operating efficiency.
They have a global reach in the wire and cable industry. No Matter where you are in the world, they provide a product that more than meets worldwide standards. Their research and product range is formidable and their products only seem to be improving.
Each cabling product is manufactured to the highest
standards using sophisticated technology to match international
standards. Cables are manufactured to customer specific designs and
requirements. High quality materials are used to ensure functionality
and durability. Cables are manufactured to suit customer specific
environments.
Saying all that, I think as a chemical engineer, we still need to know at least a little bit about all this types and uses of cables. I did my part when I assisted in the upgrading of the control power system in my plant. From that point, I appreciated the knowledge I obtained about this inter-engineering discipline. What about you?
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To learn more about industrial cable or information related to cables, I strongly suggest you to get hold of this following free magazine. Cabling Installation & Maintenance magazine delivers in-depth
technical and business information to network and data center
structured cabling professionals each month. For almost 20 years, they
have delivered trusted and unbiased information focused exclusively on
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at end-user, contractor, integrator and carrier organizations. If you are interested to get this magazine at no cost, click here.
After contributing a chapter in a book published under John Wiley titled Process Plant Equipment Operation, Reliability and Control, I contributed my mind and energy in another book. The contribution is not that significant but at least I assisted a small portion for the creation of this new book. This time I contributed some of the technical terms found in chemical engineering for the book titled "Dictionary of Industrial Terms". The book is edited by Michael D. Holloway and Chikezie Nwaoha. (January 2013) Dictionary of Industrial Terms. Scrivener Publishers, USA. pp 678. ISBN: 9781118344576.
The book will be
out in print by January 2013. Currently, the final draft and cover of the book is already available for printing and promotion. You can read more about the book on the following links:
It is believed that this is the
most comprehensive and in-depth dictionary of industrial terms
available, a must-have for any engineer, scientist, technician, or
operator working in industry.
Targeted Audience
The book is targeted for engineers,
scientists, technicians, operators, and managers working in industry
often don’t have quick access to a go-to reference of industrial terms,
especially on the shop floor or in the plant. This book is meant to
address that need.
Description
The
terms process, control, reliability and machinery are used broadly
here. But some other categories are covered, such as corrosion, asset
management, lubrication, quality control, process and occupational
safety. The alphabetically arranged entries range from a few words to a
page or more. It is an essential reference for all reliability
professionals, process engineers, plant operators, corrosion and
lubrication personnel, and repair and maintenance personnel. Over
11,000 entries (arranged from A to Z) all alphabetically arranged and
special features to encourage usage and understanding. They are
supplemented by hundreds of figures (approximately 200) & tables
(more than 100) that clearly demonstrate the principles & concepts
behind important process control, instrumentation, reliability,
machinery, asset management, lubrication, corrosion etc.
When
unclear communication occurs in the process industry, the problems that
result can be expensive - costly downtime and equipment failure. Here's
where the ‘Nwaoha and Holloway’ Process, Reliability, and Machinery
Dictionary terms can eliminate much of this frustration and cost. Now, everybody including
you, your staff, vendors, contract employees, and consultants can
quickly refer to this glossary's more than 11,000 terms and definitions.
This helpful dictionary provides a common ground for effective
communication. It is an essential reference for all reliability
professionals, process engineers, plant operators, and repair and
maintenance personnel etc Its ideal for engineers, managers,
salespeople, technicians, students, and technical writers, this volume
is packed with practical information.
Following illustrates part of the contributors for this book. My name is the last one on the list.
------------------------------------------------------------------- FREE Recommended magazines to get you updated with current engineering news
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I’m Zaki. I used to be a project, process and chemical engineer. Few years ago I successfully became a Chartered Engineer (IChemE) and Professional Engineer (BEM). I'm now employed as a chemical engineering educator/researcher/consultant. Hope you like reading my blog. I welcome any feedback from you. My email: zaki.yz[alias]gmail.com. TQ!
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