Hi

Been living in Aberdeen for a few years now due to my husband working in the Oil & Gas. So things aren't looking too good and we expect his contract to end come April/May time. Before we moved to AB we had an offer for Saudi which we did not accept as I was at the time hesitant to leave my family and be so far from home to cut a long story short, also have 2 little ones and wasn't sure how they would cope with a move from Ireland to Saudi (or how I would).

In typical fashion I feel I called the shots and we came to Scotland and now things here are going down the pan - my husband is keen now to move on again and of course the Middle East has come up again in our discussions.

I would love to hear from anyone who has bit the bullet and made the move? Having now moved away and seen how the children adapted much easier than I expected I would consider it now. I feel I held my husband back the last time and although neither of us have any regrets about our time in Scotland I would like to be more supportive this time and make the move if the right position came up.

I have read through the forum at length many times over the last few years and I know all have very varied experiences.

Just looking for general advice on where abouts in the Middle East is best for O&G project engineer positions?

Many thanks for taking the time to read this post and any help will be gratefully received!

Yep, kids are adaptable. And that's a vital thing to bear in mind.

With the usual caveats about being able to get places in a suitable school and having enough money to live comfortably in a quite expensive country, you'd be joining many, many other families in the UAE who really enjoy life there. It sounds like you have a balanced view on things, and that's essential (every location has its plusses and minuses)--most western residents consider the location a bonus, rather than a necessary evil.

As to Saudi, I'll leave that to others to comment on in detail, but I (and many I know) view it as a hateful place, although I am aware that many families enjoy life on compounds. But be prepared for a rough time outside.

Good luck.

This more or less sums it up. Saudi has an appaling reputation, but some make it work for them well- one of the frequent posters on here is there and seems content. Kuwait is a strange place, progresive in some ways, restricttive in others. Qatar is, well Qatar, prepared to stir the pot when it feels like it, and be utterly frustrating at times. Bahrain, Oman and the UAE are the best postings, in my opinion, but a bad employer in those countries can make a decent employer in Saudi look like a walk in the park. Who you work for is always more important than where you work.

Thank you both for your honest replies, open to anything but have family in Bahrain and Dubai so they are the ideal, I'm still quite wary of Saudi, I probably just need to get over myself a bit! At the moment though I think anywhere might be better than Aberdeen, it's hard to tell what's going to happen..

I second that.

Moving forward going to keep this advice at the forefront of our minds!

I agree that who you work for is the most important thing, I think the second most important thing is where you live. I don't mean country or city I mean compound/apartment building etc.

If you have young kids and you move into a compound with lots of families then you instantly make friends and feel part of a community, if however you move to an apartment surrounded by people without children that work long hours, so that you hardly see them it can very quickly become a lonely existence.

So my advice is if the move comes up just make sure you put your time and effort making sure you live in the right place.

I'd put Bahrain well behind UAE and Oman for quality of family-life. Friends of ours left Bahrain 6 months ago for the UAE, having lived there for quite a few years, and were heartily glad to be out of the place - I hadn't realised how much ongoing low-level trouble there is. Though westerners are not normally being targeted, it definitely impacted on their quality of life.
As already said, you should have absolutely no worries about bringing a family to the UAE or Oman as long as the job is right. Both countries are quite different, with their own plusses and minusses, but both are very family friendly.
I don't work in O&G so can't advise, but if I were you I'd be concentrating on whether O&G firms here will actually be needing to recruit people from Scotland, or not - there is all sorts of talk about projects being put on hold while the oil price is low. No point worrying about which country is best to live in if no-one is recruiting from the UK...

Jimmy B - agree wholeheartedly with your comments - compound living has always been our first choice, I don't think I would even consider another option I wouldn't know where to start. Thank you for your advice.

archie159 - I have family in Bahrain and when we were offered Saudi I did hope that it would be an option for the kids and I to stay with hubby travelling the causeway, but yes it appears the trouble there is ongoing. My husband may have the opportunity for an internal move to the UAE, which would be ideal.

I guess I'm just trying to put the feelers out to get a sense of how it works out for families who have made the move. I'm definitely more prepared now for this to happen than I was a few years back, but with a little anxiety still hovering! Thanks everyone x

Just remember that UAE compounds aren't like those in places like KSA and there is no need for them to be like that. The UAE, and Dubai in particular, is the easiest place to move too as it is more Western in feel than other GCC countries and just about anything is available.

My advice is to do your research regarding the cost of living so you don't get any nasty surprises. This is not the place to be if money is tight.

Good luck whatever you decide.