Job opportunities offshore

The steel constructions on the offshore installations and the surface of offshore wind turbines are exposed to strong weather-related impacts.

The constructions have been built to resist the most violent conditions from water, currents, and storms, for years to come. Its resistance to strong forces of nature depends, however, on the maintenance of surface treatments.

Quite often, skilled painters are employed to carry out surface treatment on constructions, onshore, or offshore. Some companies want you to complete a surface treatment course at AMU-Vest before you can take on new tasks.

Electricians work both onshore and offshore.

Oil/gas: On offshore installations, you will become a part of a team that repairs and maintains the production plants. The work may involve troubleshooting and calibration of instruments.

Preventive maintenance of instrument pipes and fittings to detect the weak points in time is also an important task. Moreover, there is also a need for your professional competences within general electrical work.

Wind turbines: Many high-technological components must work optimally to ensure problem-free operation. Many technical tasks can be solved from ashore, whereas other tasks must be carried out in the wind turbine itself. There is a need for electricians, who can troubleshoot and correct the faults.

The chef is the day-to-day manager of the catering and service team on board the oil- and gas installations.

In addition to managing and dividing the tasks among cooks and stewards/stewardesses for day and night shifts, the chef him-/herself takes part in the meal preparations for the crew and guests on board.

As a cook, you take part in preparation, service, and other tasks that you have experience with from ashore.

The manager is in charge of administrative tasks, including ordering of goods, quality control, planning of menus, planning of duty rosters, and appraisals of staff.

It is an advantage if you have experience in cooking, cold and warm, for approx. 60-80 persons, drawing up menus, servicing, purchasing, managing staff, and shipping trade.

Your typical tasks will be to complete forms for ordering all types of materials, chemicals, equipment, and goods for the use of production and maintenance on offshore installations and at wind turbine farms. The personal necessities of the crew might also be included.

The next stage is goods reception and distribution, receipt and registration, marking and recording in it-systems, delivery, and receipt of materials, and stocktaking.

All the functions and routines you know from other industries – but with different goods than what you are maybe used to handling.

All courses up until skilled level are available at AMU-Vest. You can take the skilled level education at Rybners.

The nurse performs the day-to-day health-related tasks on the oil- and gas installations, including treating minor injuries and preparing any workers that need further medical treatment to be sent onshore. The job also involves tasks related to safety drills and first aid on board.

You will get to apply your professional and human skills and gain experience from a very different work life than if you were employed in a hospital or elsewhere in the health sector.

At workshops at the port of Esbjerg, tasks include ensuring that construction equipment – such as cranes, forklift trucks, electric and diesel compressors – always run optimally.

On offshore installations and at wind turbine farms, engines, gearboxes and other mechanical equipment must be inspected and maintained.

No matter if it is oil and gas or wind energy, it is essential that the operation is kept going all the time because downtime – the time when production stands still – costs millions of Danish kroner.

As a service technician, your job may be to service windmills. Tasks include inspection, servicing, and repairing of blades. Also, there is the maintenance of towers and other tasks onshore.

It is an advantage to be a trained craftsman with relevant experience.

Oil- and service companies depend on having components, spare parts, and essential equipment delivered with short notice in case of a shutdown.

It is necessary that supplies, and the flow of products, are handled by professionals with in-depth knowledge of different transport systems.

As a forwarding agent/shipping agent, or educated shipper, you can apply much of your experiences from sea and overland transport, for instance booking in internal systems, contact to customers, tendering, negotiations with vendors, and drawing up customs declarations for the offshore industry.

It is important that you can keep a sense of perspective and work under time pressure.

In spite of what the title implies, the tasks do not have to be carried out on a ship.

The offshore industry employs many ship fitters on platforms and at wind farms, as there is a significant need for their skills to monitor, repair and maintain motors, cranes, cooling systems, and pipe systems.

Much of the welding work is carried out at sea on offshore installations and offshore wind turbines.

The tasks involve installation and maintenance of metal constructions, piping systems, engines, and other parts of the big process plants. There are also repair and welding tasks.

You need to work with high accuracy and attention to detail. You need to be robust and in good physical condition, if your work demands harder, more typical welding work. If you are a trained craftsman of another trade, a carpenter or bricklayer, for instance, there are great opportunities for specialising in the various areas of welding.

Your typical tasks will be drawing and sketching structures and pipes, updating drawings, drawing as-built documentation, and participation in project reviews concerning drawings.

The tasks are primarily carried out onshore.

If you are a trained technical insulator, have experience with insulation work or have approved insulation training, a job in the offshore industry might be something for you.

Tasks include insulation and cladding of process pipes; both warm and cold pipes, insulation of tanks and containers, plumbing and ventilation ducts, as well as arrangement and renovation of ceilings and walls.

Much prefabrication of installations and equipment for platforms is carried out onshore. That is why many of these tasks are carried out at insulation companies onshore.

If you are an unskilled worker and able to use your hands, the insulation courses at AMU Syd in Kolding could be an option for you. When you have taken these courses, you may qualify to work with insulation, either onshore or offshore.

As with other professions, you should be prepared to work both day and night shifts, when the tasks require it.

Many of the tasks are similar to equivalent jobs onshore.

The job consists of assisting the chef in the kitchen with cooking, servicing, cleaning, and other tasks.

As a kitchen assistant, you will be a part of a team that works closely together.

The steel constructions on the offshore installations and the surface of offshore wind turbines are exposed to strong weather-related impacts.

The constructions have been built to resist the most violent conditions from water, currents, and storms, for years to come. Its resistance to strong forces of nature depends, however, on the maintenance of surface treatments.

If you are an unskilled worker, you can take a course in surface treatment at AMU-Vest and qualify to work with surface treatment, onshore or offshore.

As an unskilled worker, there are many job opportunities in the field of offshore wind, for instance, as a rigger.

There are no special requirements for training or experience, as long as you can use your hands.

In addition to a GWO course, you must, however, take a rigger course. The rigger course is provided by AMU-Vest and AMU-SYD.

Like roustabouts in the oil and gas industry, riggers must be able to take on various tasks.

The work can take place on one of the installation vessels, which erects offshore wind turbines, or involve pre-assembly of turbine parts onshore, typically in Esbjerg port.

Rope access technicians are specialised in performing various tasks by means of rappelling. As a welder, surface treater, or other offshore functions, you might work in places where it is hard to gain access, such as underneath an offshore installation or high up on a wind turbine. In these situations, it is cheaper and more efficient to use rope access instead of building a scaffold or renting an expensive, big crane to carry the crew to perform the repair work.

Semco Maritime, Falck Safety Services, and Ropeaccess.dk provide training in rope access.

When you start working on an offshore installation as an unskilled worker, you often start as a roustabout.

It is a kind of jack-of-all-trades position with a lot of various tasks on deck.

You can take part in unloading and loading supply vessels and helicopters, or you can be a rigger on the deck moving goods with cranes.

You might also be responsible for inspecting fire extinguishers and rescue boats on board or assisting in housekeeping of the deck and high-pressure cleaning of the different modules.

As a roustabout, you can do additional training to upgrade your skills, for instance as a scaffolder, or surface treater.

Maybe you are a rigger or a roustabout and have a special technical flair then you can move on to an exciting world underwater. When installing offshore wind turbines, small submarines, ROV (Remotely Operated (underwater) Vehicles) are used to pull cables into the foundations of the wind turbines, and for maintenance, they are used to inspect the foundations’ conditions.
The ROV technique can also be used for new constructions and maintenance of oil- and gas platforms.

The vessels are controlled from above. It is almost like playing Xbox, but here it is real.

Typically, the riggers or roustabouts operate the ROV, in addition to their regular tasks.

There are no special requirements for training or experience, as long as you can use your hands.

On offshore installations, the accommodation area, where the rooms, shower rooms, changing rooms, common rooms, and offices are located, requires cleaning.

Tasks also include spring cleaning of the entire accommodation area as well as making beds, changing bed linens, and assisting in the kitchen with cleaning and dishwashing.

It is an advantage if you have experience in cleaning, for instance, from a ship or a hotel.

As a steward/stewardess, you will become part of a team that works closely together.

There are many job options as a scaffolder or scaffold worker in the offshore industry.

Often, maintenance and installation of new equipment on offshore installations require hanging scaffolds or tower scaffolds, built in various heights.

As a scaffold worker, you will be asked to assist, if necessary, with tasks on deck.

There are many jobs in scaffolding and rigging, as the offshore industry involves much work in heights and with heavy goods.

If you have the proper welding certificates and are prepared to meet the strict quality standards, there are many job opportunities in the offshore industry.

Welders are used both on production platforms and in offshore wind turbines. As most of the constructions are carried out onshore, jobs are typically located here as well.

Some tasks require training as a blacksmith, whereas a welding certificate might be sufficient for other tasks. You can receive more information about the requirements by contacting AMU-Vest.

There is an increasing need for welders, who are trained as rope access technicians and specialised in performing various tasks by means of rappelling.

Upon completion of a course as a blades repairer, you may work with the construction of blades and repairs of various types of damages – transport damages, surface damages, and damages caused by lightning strikes.

Tasks also include controlling completed repairs and subsequent documentation.

AMU SYD can issue an internationally recognised diploma, which can be converted into a company certificate.

You may qualify to work offshore by taking a compulsory safety course. You can find more information about this under Safety courses.

There is an increasing need for blade repairers, who are trained as rope access technicians and specialised in performing various tasks by means of rappelling.

Contact AMU SYD for more information

Leif Thorup , lth@amusyd.dk, +45 2524 0900
Poul Erik Jensen, pej@amusyd.dk, +45 7637 3792

Engineers are in high demand with offshore companies.

As an engineer in the offshore industry, you will be able to work both onshore and offshore. The work environment is international and characterised by a lot of technical challenges and great opportunities for a career abroad. If you wish to contribute with solutions for the energy supply of the future, a position as an engineer in the offshore industry might be the right choice for you.

Types of engineers that work in the offshore industry:

• Marine engineer
• Electrical engineer
• Chemical engineer
• Process engineer
• Electronics engineer
• Oil and gas engineer
• Energy engineer
• Sustainable energy engineer
• Structural engineer

As a technology manager, you work with maintenance and operation of large plants, for instance on drilling rigs/ platforms, and on offshore wind farms.

You can also work with project design, testing, and design of plants.

Most of the time, the job is carried out onshore.

As an electrical installer, your tasks include planning and execution of installation jobs. You will work with advanced technology, project planning, and dimensioning.

Prior to any extraction of oil and gas, extensive preliminary work analysing reservoirs is carried out, involving geologist and geophysicists. Not until these analyses have been completed and processed can the oil companies decide, if test drillings, priced at several millions of Danish Kroner, should be initiated.

Also, an offshore wind farm must stand on a secure foundation to operate for many years. The subsoil at the place of installation must be thoroughly analysed to identify all geological conditions before deciding on technology and methods of installation.

As a geologist in the offshore industry, you play an important role in the early phase of many substantial projects. Within oil/gas and offshore-wind as well, there are many options for working abroad.

As a marine engineer, you are responsible that the machinery and technical plants are working optimally.

The machinery requires maintenance, repairs, replacement of wearing parts, and preventive maintenance.

The oil/gas and offshore-wind sectors allow you to use your practical and theoretical experiences and skills.

A background as a marine engineer is very much in demand. Often, the jobs involve changing between tasks and projects located onshore, on installations, and sites offshore.

The offshore industry might be the industry with the highest attention to safety. Therefore, the graduate programme Risk and Safety Manager provides you with many exciting career opportunities.

You can work as a risk analyst, for instance, or as an occupational safety and health coordinator, or a project manager.

The tasks may include identifying risks in relation to the companies’ activities, analysing these risks and finding ways to reduce or avoid them, taking into account the applicable legislation, or other standards of the industry. You can also work with the development and implementation of procedures for handling health, safety, and quality.

There are many job opportunities, both in Denmark and abroad.

The graduate programme Risk and Safety Manager is offered by Aalborg University Esbjerg. You can read more about the programme and programme admission on their website.

As a technical manager offshore, you can work as a manager of large technical plants on a production platform.

You manage the operation and maintenance of the plants and may also be in charge of the installation of new plants.

You manage technical staff and are responsible for environmental and safety concerns.

Even if the job title includes “offshore,” there are also many relevant jobs onshore.