rich.mason

Hey,

This could be a huge swing and a miss but I was wondering if there is any Hydrographic/offshore surveyors in the Oil and Gas world on here?? Living in Australia.

If so wondering if you work for an Aussie company?? Do they want you to live close to the office etc??

rich.mason

Swing and a miss!!

Vegemite Kids

Hi Rick
I'm not a hydrographic surveyor but I do work in the oil & gas industry (in Perth) and can say for sure Australia has Hydrographic Surveyors working in the industry. They also work in mining and for the defence dept as well.

As to living close to the office, it depends what you mean by close. Yes they expect you to physically turn up to the office everyday (at least the days you are not out in the field / on the boat), but if you chose to have a journey time of 2 hours thats your call. Certainly in Perth, most companies dont do "home working".

The main employers of Hydrographic Surveyors that I know here in Perth are Woodside, BHP Billiton, Chevron, & RioTinto (not sure about QLD, but all those companies have East Coast Ops so probably yes)

oh and there is Swathe of course - I think they are based in South Australia, but I know we have used then as a Hydro subbie on a couple of projects.

Have you contacted the Australian Hydrographic Society? If you look through the corporate directory, you find all the companies with an interest in Hydrology in OZ & NZ.

Regards
VK

rich.mason

Cheers VK,

That was what I was worried about ...current job doesn't require me to go into the office when I am at home, contracted to just work offshore...was hoping to find something similar.

Thanks for the info with regards to companies etc! I will have a look!!

Cheers!

Vegemite Kids

Hey Rick,

Sorry, I misunderstood your question, as the Hydrographic Surveyors that I know are office based and only go out on the boat/in the field for specific tasks/campaigns so when you said "close to the office", I immediately thought of the surveyers I know in my office.

If you are looking for a FIFO role where you are specifically rostered offshore and have time off at home when not specifically rostered, then YES those roles do exist but are less common unless you are working for a survey / services type company such as Swathe. The principals / operators such as Woodside or BHP dont tend to offer those FIFO types of roles (or at least thats what I've seen here in WA/Perth). The Woodside's and BHP's tend to offer office based roles and then send the surveyors out on specific short term campaigns (a few weeks duration) then its back into the office for months of analysis, reporting, etc.....

The link I gave you earlier will help you identify the services companies (as opposed to the principals and operators) and if you are looking for FIFO you can target them.

With regard to living close to office for FIFO type roles.... you can live where ever you want but bear in mind not all companies will cover your cost of getting to the airport/ heliport if you choose to live an 'unreasonable' distance away. (eg, you chose to live in Sydney when you know the role is based out of Perth) As long as you live a reasonable distance away (a cab journey rather than a flight) your travel costs to the airport/heliport will generally get picked up as expenses.

Hope that helps and sorry for the confusion
VK

rich.mason

Hey,

Thanks for the info again!

I was trying to avoid having to live 'close' to the office. I have the advantage of the company I work for just now will let me live in Oz and keep working for them if I wanted to....but dont really wanna be forever earning in £ and having to change into $, then the financial implications, fun and games with getting taxed in the uk and then having to pay in Oz....so trying to find out what my options are!

I appreciate the info though it has opened my eyes to a completely different side of the job that I didn't even know was there....maybe thats why my job was on the old CSL!!