Have you ever looked at the ocean and thought: “Wow, it must be lovely to see this every day”? Then you might have the heart of a sailor. Or maybe you’d be great for an offshore career! The offshore industry is one of those industries that many people don’t really know much about. Of course, everyone knows that you can easily pump gas at the gas station, but few people know how it’s extracted from the earth or how hardcore offshore workers are trained to even be able to do their jobs. In this article, we give you 3 very interesting facts about the offshore sector.
All kinds of people can apply for offshore jobs
When people say ‘the offshore industry’, they mainly refer to the oil and gas industry and the renewable wind energy industry. Workers for both industries work mainly on platforms in the ocean, far away from the mainland. While it’s true that most offshore companies look for very specific profiles for their workers (e.g. engineers) a wide range of jobs are available in the offshore industry. After all, all the offshore workers that live on a platform at sea, also need food multiple times a day. So there are often job opportunities for cooks, nurses, cleaning personnel, and more!
Offshore platforms are huge
Talking about offshore platforms: if you have difficulties imagining what this looks like, you can think of a tiny city at sea. They’re built on multiple floors and can house a hundred or more people. If we’re talking about size, you can think of something like 2 football fields. For instance, the Ichthys Explorer in Western Australia has a topside measuring 130m by 120 meters. And not only the size is huge, the weight is too. The platform weighs around 120 000 tonnes!
Because workers live at the oil rigs 24/7 during their stays, the rigs also have some ‘fun’ facilities, such as dining areas, gyms and often even game rooms.
Offshore personnel is trained rigorously
Everyone knows the ocean can be quite wild. On top of that, oil and gas are highly flammable, which makes the offshore industry one of the more dangerous industries. Because of this organizations such as OPITO and NOPEGA guard over the standards for the industry. OPITO (Offshore Petroleum Industry Training Organisation) offers multiple courses for all kinds of personnel. The OPITO course you have to follow depends on your job in the sector. An OPITO certificate works worldwide, but if you for instance only want to work in the North Sea, you need a NOGEPA certificate. NOGEPA also offers multiple training courses, such as the H2S training.
Interested in working offshore? Get ready for an adventure!
