Jobs and turning the lights off

[willian]

Can't believe the amount of jobs being lost in Aberdeen.

Normally the sector I work in survives the lean times as we're a necessary service in all Oil, water and gas wells and activity keeps on tickling away globally, but things seem different this time round.......it's incredibly dormant.

We're shedding people, a lot of people.....myself included from our product line and others product lines are the same and even worse in some cases.

Folk talk of decommissioning and the work it will bring, but once the wells are killed, cut, pulled and cemented then they aren't coming back.
We fully abandoned a 36 well 'platform' (of sorts) 12 years ago and it didn't take long!!!!!!

I heard that a major operator in Aberdeen is talking of shutting down their entire North Sea platform inventory and abandoning them.

The oil industry in Aberdeen is never going to be the same again in my opinion.

Maybe time to sharpen my chisels and planes again, or look at foreign climes for work

[al]

It seems to be a significant "game changer" to the area although the house prices are yet to reflect the situation with new builds still being advertised at £500,000+.

I have so far managed to work past 3 contract end dates and am working week by week picking up an hour here and an hour there. The job had hoped to move to had the hour slashed so my position dissapeared.

It has reached the point where my kids have turned round and said that they see their future in anything except the oil industry and I can't blame them. Unforunatly it isn't so easy for a great many of us to diversify as many of the companies in the rest of the country that aren't directly servicing the oil industry are still connected to the industry through third parties so are feeling the strain.

It is a pretty shizzle state of affairs and I can't personally see any way out of it in the near furure.

Big Kneed Al (master of the emergency stop & "stand up" comedian).

[Gazza]

It's the end of the good times for sure. I can't see it picking up much when it does.

Apart from the oil jobs, there will be a massive affect on other services around Aberdeen. There will be less oil money for people to spend and everywhere they normally spend it will feel the effect.

House prices are usually the last to be affected as folk are reluctant to take less than their mortgage is worth, but with time they will.

20 years ago I already said that Aberdeen was squandering cash on everything but non oil related businesses, leaving itself wide open to such a disaster. The late eighties should have been a lesson. But no, the city has very little diversity. As usual people have gone for the big bucks whilst they could and ignored the long term future.

I feel for the youngsters who stumbled obliviously into the mess us old buggers have left them.

[Zathos]

It is trying times that is for sure.

I'm not a doom and gloom person. This planet is still addicted to fossil fuels and the current severe downturn has limited investment in drilling new wells, once the surplus oil has passed through the refineries global production will fall and prices will rise.

That will take 3 to 5 years

In the mean time, tighten belts, sell the family silver and take any work that is available

When the price starts to rise, how high and can it be prevented from going boom and bust again?
With reduced investment (pension funds will ship out of O&G market leaving self finance or high risk funds) coupled with reduced skills / workforce (Who would go back into that industry) leads to opportunities :)

[willian]

Aye shizzle is not the word!

No job leads in the sector I work in locally.

I'm 10 days away from being finished up and hopefully get my settlement payments through nice and timely to let us see what options, budgets and time frames we have work with.

Would love to work abroad and options are there, but I want to stay locally and don't want to rotate and be away from the family.

[Coully]

3 months into being let go by a service company,... the big blue one
picking up work week to week with labouring driving jobs but not long till accepting the inlaws help in order to keep the house.
Wife cut loose by bibby in june, worse for her as she's HR/Training based so if jobs come up she loses out to folks mates (as was the case recently, where the feedback supplied said they'd gone with a more experienced candidate but actually half the experience of my wife, but that person had worked with the person doing the recruiting before).
Have tightened belts etc and more than happy to look anywhere but oil and gas for work, had an interview on Friday and reckon I smashed it but will have to wait and see. regrettably its in an oil and gas related company but they service other industries too.
I'm not bitter (much) I appreciate why it had to happen,...I'm just finally getting over my seething Anal Intrusion and hatred of my managers and how they went about it.
What pisses me off the most Is the lip service cost cutting that companies undertake,... cancelling milk/papers while still (in bibbys case for my wife) running 2 35 seater buses from town for the dozen or less people whom used them or flying up individuals to work and stay in hotels for their working week (when they should be told relocate or F*&k off).
I think the industy will recover in time but not soon.
Time to retrain in the construction industry I think, ironic that its booming with the large projects as the oil goes tets up.
My father has already said, if required he'd give me money to go after my 7.5tonne licence to get more / better rates for agency work.

Yet, land rover can build a new premises (farmers must have plenty dosh) and Audi and Porsche can move to new ones... who the feck is buying them!!!
Back home (buckie), the buses to baxters are looking more like crew changes according to some of my friends...funny since that would have been some of the jobs lads would have left in order to chase the money being a north sea tiger.

But hey ho,... its a new week and we could all become teachers (looking into that too since I have a science degree)

[al]

But hey ho,... its a new week and we could all become teachers (looking into that too since I have a science degree)

I considered that but don't think I have the right temprement to deal with kids who don't want to be there never mind dealing with other teachers and their cliques.

Big Kneed Al (master of the emergency stop & "stand up" comedian).

[haiax0]

I see First Oil went into administration today....

A little known company against the major operators but there equity stake they had in some fields was pretty large to say the least.

[willian]

Sorry to hear about your situation Coully, things will pick up I'm sure.

I hear what you're saying about the por cost cutting, one of our managers was bragging about the restaurants he and other managers were eating in on their trip up from England for a few days, I wa notified of my redundancy 5 days later.
Considering when I visited down south I was eating 5 quid lasagnes from the cheapo pub menu and not taking the p!$$

Not sure about the Oil and Gas sector picking up to any heights again though, I think these cuts will be the sector sizing benchmark in Aberdeen from now on.

I'm ten days into the abyss and slowly getting through the "honey do" list, nothing doing job wise and looking at alternatives.
Was in town yesterday for a bike related thing and in the off time I flirted with going into the job centre, just to see if there were options for getting training courses funded or part funded to allow a sector transfer and any information things that would be useful towards protecting our position until I pick up work.

I then rounded the corner towards the locality and steps was busy with folk drinking cider and special brew clearly not in job search mode and I chose to 'walk the mat' instead (albeit in the daytime).

[Coully]

well, it happened, managed to land a job quite unexpectedly. Had an interview for intertek (near AECC ) for one role and didn't get it,... imagine my surprise when out of the blue I get an email asking if I would come for an interview for a different role. jumped at it , did the interview (short as it was) and got a shout a few days later. now into my 2nd week in a lab tech role that resets the clock a bit in terms of salary but its a permanent role with a good sized company . just waiting to complete the basic training before I transition onto shifts (6am-2pm/2pm-10pm), which could be interesting... but only looking at the positives... just need to get the wife a permanent role now

[willian]

Coully, that's great news, glad something has went your way.

As for salary......They say it's better to look for another job while you're already in a job so I'm sure trading up options shall present them self to you in time.

I would imagine being lab tech orientated you're a mud man or something similar?

[Coully]

I was a cement lab tech at the big blue place (shan't say their name...i'll just get angry). Back down the chain as tech at intertek...basic lab testing on crude oil. Ayei'll be keeping an eye out like but this isnae bad...quite keen to start shifts while the days are long and bright

[willian]

Good stuff, nice to have a place on the chain

[Coully]

Oh indeed,...much rather on it than being chewed up by it.

[willian]

For sure, I'm still licking my wounds.

Saying that, had a lovely afternoon/ evening on the bike yesterday....... I could have been scratching at the office window to get out yesterday

[Coully]

Aye looking forward to early shifts for afternoon blasts

[willian]

Once I've cut and raked the grass I'm on the road!

[RK6]

The industry certainly isn't in the happiest of places at the moment but as Zathos said, things will pick up sooner or later. It's simple supply and demand.

Like many others, we've had to restructure a few times in the past 12 months to keep us in the green but, horrible as it is, it's meant that we can still gainfully employ the remaining 75 people here in Aberdeenshire. Of course that doesn't make it any easier to pull the trigger but it does reassure me that we've done the right thing.

In the back of my head, I know that the industry is just in another low point of the usual 'boom or bust' cycle but to be honest, that thought isn't helping just now - I'm done with O&G!

It's definitely time to start setting up something that I can call my own, something that actually excites me rather than something that's slowly turning me into a robot.

Operation f*ck oil begins................. Soon(ish).

[Coully]

I like the sound of that

[willian]

Yeah, still biding my time for which way to turn, would love to be my own boss or part of a small set up again before I joined the O&G side of things,

I'm put off cutting the grass till later and cancelled Sky Telly and Changed power supplier instead !

Now it's two wheels time!