Life in the Offshore Industry

In the early oil years, self-confident Americans in cowboy boots and other foreigners came to Denmark, and we absorbed knowledge to learn how to produce oil and gas offshore. The difficult chalk fields in the North Sea have been a good training ground, giving us knowledge about extracting oil under challenging conditions.

Now Danish companies increasingly export their expertise and products within oil/gas and offshore wind.

If you want to challenge yourself outside the country's borders for a few years, you have come to the right industry. It is born international.

Camaraderie and a job that makes sense

When you work several hundred kilometers out in the North Sea and are away for 14 days at a time, a special camaraderie arises. You are cut off from the outside world, and life on a platform becomes like a small independent community where it is important to make everyday life work. It creates good fellowship, and offshore workers often say that they miss life on the platform during the periods they are home.

As an offshore employee in the Danish part of the North Sea, you are out for two weeks at a time and home for three weeks. This also means long shifts and a busy everyday life during the periods you are out, where you can concentrate 100 percent on the job. When you are home, you have time off to be there for family and friends. But it requires that the home front is in order, and the whole family must be prepared for you being away for 14 days at a time.

The offshore industry – a safe choice

As an employee in the offshore industry, you quickly learn that safety always has top priority. There is also security in exciting work tasks, and when you land with the helicopter on a platform, you quickly understand why safety is in focus. It is vital that safety is never compromised, and this also means that you have time to do things properly the first time. This appeals to many offshore employees.

Should an accident occur on a platform, there is no doubt that everyone knows how to act. This is ensured through the extensive safety courses that are mandatory for everyone in the industry.

A knowledge-intensive industry in constant development

Today, the offshore industry is one of the most significant in Denmark, with a turnover close to 110 billion kroner. It is especially within consultancy, design and production as well as monitoring and maintenance of oil/gas facilities and offshore wind turbines that we are strong in Denmark.

Knowledge services are a large part of the offshore industry, and according to Energy Innovation Cluster, up to 20 percent of jobs in the industry are knowledge-intensive positions.

Concrete examples of consulting tasks in the wind sector include meteorological forecasts, inspection and maintenance of turbine blades, and advice on wind conditions and the placement of wind turbines. Regarding the oil/gas industry, work includes developing new methods to increase the recovery rate of oil fields. Companies in the Danish part of the North Sea have been challenged by difficult conditions, resulting in innovative solutions that have given Danish oil and gas technology a leading position. For every percent you can increase the recovery rate, you will increase production turnover in the Danish sector by 50 billion kroner.

The opportunities are many, and the offshore industry literally offers a sea of career opportunities – it's just a matter of seizing them.

Are you ready for a challenge?

As the oil and gas fields have aged, oil extraction has increasingly become technically and commercially challenging. Therefore, there is a need for specialized engineers with technical know-how who can develop new methods to maximize production.

It is not only the oil/gas sector that requires smart minds who can think outside the box. Offshore wind also faces some challenges in reducing costs, and here synergy can be found by creating innovative solutions that can be used for both oil/gas and offshore wind. In both cases, steel structures must be designed, manufactured, installed, and operated.

The many complex challenges have contributed to companies increasingly seeking specialists abroad for recruitment. This has also helped ensure good diversity in the workforce and a more international working environment.

You don't have to be sea-strong

Many believe that you absolutely have to be sea-strong and able to be away from your family for several weeks in a row if you want to work in the offshore industry, but in reality, most jobs – up to 70 percent – are onshore.

Many tasks are performed better, cheaper, and more safely onshore. This applies, for example, to product development, project management, logistics planning, monitoring of wind farms, and much more.

So even if you are not sea-strong, you can still build a career in offshore – both nationally and internationally.