Arty

Hi guys,
yes i am back again After a fantastic holiday to Ottawa last June meeting up with family and getting a taste of the country,we are looking to try again this year.
This time we are of to Nova Scotia not decided exactly where to have a look,but will be over this coming June
As i have worked in the Chemical Industry for 20 years as a control room tech and i am now with BP in Grangemouth as a Ops Tech i am looking to get into the same line of work
How big if any is the Oil Industry in the Maritmes,are there plenty of jobs there or are all the Oil and Gas jobs in the West.
We understand that Alberta is a big player in the oil industry but i doubt the boss will want to move that far.The maritimes would suit her, Nova Scotia more than anything,as the distance from Scotland is 6 hours or so.
The price of houses there is a major plus point,but from all the threads on that area the people and the scenery are the main reasons why i think we would like to give it a go ,if we can get in that is
So feel free to throw your ideas in ,good or bad.
Cheers
Arty & Co

pinkmcfarquhar

Arty,
If you are looking to live on the East Coast, and work in Oil and Gas, then Newfoundland is a good place to come. My husband just got transferred from Aberdeen to St John's through his work - he is a senior systems engineer. There are a couple of oil developments off Newfoundland and the university has a good reputation for people in this line of work. As my husband had a job offer, we came through the Newfoundland PNP, and so far it has taken us about 14 months - we are now here on work permits with our application for permanent residence in progress.

You can have a look at houses on www.remax.nf.ca or www.mls.ca just to give you an idea of prices and so on.

Newfoundland is similar to NS in that it is a short distance from the UK - only 5 and a half hours if you can get a direct flight - however that service seems to come and go. However, it is easy enough to get flights between St John's and Halifax, it just means adding another leg to the journey.

If you want to know more, just give me a shout. Hope this helps.

Arty

Hi Pinkmcfarquhar,
thanks for the reply ,could you tell me the companies out there in Newfoundland that are in the Oil & Gas business.
We are just about to sit down with a glass of wine and look at the houses in your region,i have had a quick look earlier and jeez they are even better value than NS
We will certainly be looking further into this ,what are the schools like,is there a good community spirit there ,and are jobs scarce.
Well thanks again and hopefully you do not mind me picking your brains in the future.
Cheers
Arthur & Co

Atlantic Xpat

Arty,

If you fancy working offshore (3 on, 3 off) Husky are looking for Production Technicians on their FPSO: http://www.huskyenergy.ca/careers/ca...ies/canada.asp

Other players here include Petrocanada & Chevron.
Oil service companies include PSN (Production Services Network), Technip, AMEC etc.

Newfoundland is very much the oil hub for the East Coast. (with all due respect to Nova Scotia.)

pinkmcfarquhar

Arty,

As Atlantic says, most of the major players have offices here. My husband's work hasn't changed that much - still goes to Aberdeen and Houston, Newfoundland is as handy for him for working in the oil industry. If you are prepared to work offshore, there is work all over. Another big advantage of offshore is you get good time off - as a general rule, most jobs have less holidays over here, at least to begin with. My husband was also lucky enough to get medical/dental cover for both me and him in his contract.

As for your other questions - newfoundlanders are renowned for being some of the friendliest people in Canada, and everyone we have met so far - even people in government offices (medical, social insurance, immigration) have been absolutely fantastic and a mine of information. My husband and I looked into Alberta as he has family in Edmonton, but after one visit to Newfoundland, we were hooked. It also has good bars - and lots of live music.

Atlantic: - do we get commission for attracting people to newfoundland?? Could be a nice little earner!

Atlantic Xpat

A comprehensive list of companies involved in Oil and Gas in Newfoundland can be found here: http://www.noianet.com/ on the 'Newfoundland Ocean Industries Association' website. Note that everyone from restaurants through realtors to the actual oil and gas companies are members so it takes a little searching through.

AX

Arty

Hi Atlantic Xpat
Thanks for the info a lot of good stuff there ,had a look at the Husky site for offshore Techs.Surprisingly i thought the wife would have been put off with me being away for 3 weeks at a time in a strange new country,but no not really.
I think we will have to seriously look into Newfoundland as you say all the major players are there in the Oil Industry and the houses ,what can i say
How difficult is it to land a job over there from over here, bearing in mind that jobs in the oil industry tend to pay above average wages . Surely most of the local folk would be clamouring for jobs there,thus making it nearly imposs for me to get my foot in.
Still i have a sneaky feeling we will pay Newfoundland a visit this summer and who knows were that will lead us.
Ps my wife is a retail manager with a large UK store,anyone looking for store managers
Thanks again for all your info,we really appreciate it.
Arty ,Alison,Mhairi & Lewis

Atlantic Xpat

Well perhaps one way of looking at it is that you get 26 weeks vacation a year or thereabouts. So your wife and kids do get to see a lot of you when you are onshore whereas on the 9-5 you're out all day 49 weeks of the year.

Certainly the oil and gas sector is very attractive and yes a lot of people want to work in it. (Myself included). But, as with all industries it's attracting the right skilled people that can be a problem. There are very definately people working here who come from away. I might be able to get some more insight on the Husky positions as I have a good contact there.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If you have relavent experience then its worth looking for jobs and certainly worth your while taking a look at the place. It's not paradise (although there is actually a town called Paradise) but there are a lot of good things about the place.

Always happy to help.
AX

Arty

Hi Pinkmcfarquar,#
thanks again for your replies ,we have certainly had our eyes opened with regards to the the housing and scenery of Newfoundland.
Its good to know that the local folk are renowned for being friendly,where are the best parts of Newfoundland to live with consideration for good schooling.We do not mind being out in the countryside but would ideally be near a small town or village
The job will be as always,be the main hurdle as to wether we can come to Canada or not,fingers crossed i can get the feelers out and hopefully get a few contacts.
Cheers
Arty Alison,Mhairi & Lewis

pinkmcfarquhar

Arty,

Atlantic may be able to help out a bit more with areas in regard to schooling as he has been here longer than us - we only arrived in November!

However, here is a bit of a run down of some of the areas we have been to/visited.

St John's itself is the capital of the province, and has a population of i think about 175,000. It is a nice city, nice historic downtown area, good number of shops with two malls (avalon and village), and a couple of big box shopping centres - kind of like retail parks back in Scotland, with shops like WalMart, Pier 1 Imports, Costco, Zellers and so on.

Kind of on the outskirts of St John's, you have Mount Pearl and Paradise which are towns on their own. You also have areas round about within easy commuting distance (up to half an hour) which go from being quite spread out and feeling quite rural to being quite built up - these are Conception Bay South (South West of St John's), St. Phillips/Portugal Cove (West of St John's) and Torbay/Outer Cove/Middle Cove (North of St Johns). All have pluses and minuses - Conception Bay South (CBS) has a lot of houses and is quite busy, but therefore lots of services. Both CBS and St Phillips/Portugal Cove are on the West Side and are a bit sheltered from the weather - from what I hear don't get the same fog. Torbay area is on the east, right on the atlantic so quite dramatic scenery, and maybe a little bit less houses?! Further than that to the west are towns like Bay Roberts and Carbonear which are quite nice, and about 1hr from St John's.

Going a bit further afield to the south, there are areas like Goulds (about 20 mins from St John's), then Bay Bulls, Witless Bay and Tors Cove. All quite nice areas on the east coast.

Further afield, there is Clarenville which is a nice wee place, maybe a couple of hours from St John's. North of Clarenville to places like Buena Vista it is absolutely beautiful, but maybe not the same chances for jobs.

Kind of in the middle of Newfoundland you have Gander and Grand Falls Windsor, both reasonable size towns with the opportunities offered by that. The area to the north of here, Twillingate and so on, is amazing, but again more remote.

On the West Coast of Newfoundland, you have Deer Lake which is the other main airport on the island and Corner Brook. Haven't spent much time in Deer Lake, but there was a really nice town beside there called Pasadena which is meant to be a nice place to live. Spent a couple of nights in Corner Brook and it is a nice town, again a reasonable size. Very nice scenery around there - Humber Valley, Marble Mountain Resort. Also, not far from Gros Morne National Park if you are in to outdoor activities.

If you are thinking of working in oil, probably makes sense to be within reasonable travelling distance of an airport - i know it was a factor when we looked at houses, just because I know how unreliable OH's flights in/out can be and didn't fancy having a 2/3 hour drive each way!!

Hope this helps a wee bit, and apologies if it is a bit of a ramble - we came over a couple of times on holiday before moving over and just hired a car and explored the island.

Arty

Hi
Atlantic Xpat
again thanks for the info,yes we certainly are going to dig further as you said nothing ventured nothing gained.
As i mentioned i have 20 years in Chemical Industry as a Process Control Room Operator/Tech.I have just started recently with BP at Grangemouth so my experience is somewhat limited ,but there are major similarities between the two careers ,i guess thats why i got the job in the first place.I reckon this year i will have passed all my internal training exams and from there i can start to apply for related jobs with a lot more confidence in my abilities.
That was the reason i made the move to BP to make myself more of an asset to these companies,so yes i am in it for the long haul.
New job ,new life,new outlook
Ps if you can find out more from your contacts at Husky that would be great,again, we very much appreciate you taking the time out to send us info
Cheers
Arty ,Alison ,Mhairi & Lewis

Arty

Hi pinkmcfarquhar,
wow thats some piece of writing your fingers must have been red raw after that.
Anyways thank you very much, a lot of good info there ,Alison is contstantly on mls,ca / re max ,i think she is sold on the idea of Newfoundland.
Hey you guys are so helpfull ,hopefully if we come thru on June we can meet up with you and Atlantic xpat.
If you hear anything else or something comes to mind pm me.
Cheers again
Arthur Alison ,Mhairi & Lewis

pinkmcfarquhar

Arty & family,

No problem at all - glad to be of assistance. Sounds good for a meet up - lots of places to choose from!

jx

Arty

Hi ,
looking forward to it,hope to meet up with anyone who will be about Newfoundland ( haven t decided exactly where to go but will suss that out nearer the time )end of June
What better way than to get an honest to goodness feel for the place.
Cheers
Arty & C0