Are you looking for a list of offshore drilling companies because you are looking for a job in an offshore oil rig? Have you tried the big boys like Shell and BP, etc? No results, or don’t want to try them for some reason?
Besides the obvious list of big boys like Shell and BP, you can also look for offshore drilling companies which do wildcatting or provide sub-contracting offshore oil drilling services to the major players. There are potentially hundreds of smaller companies which do this. Rather than cover the whole spectrum of finding oil, drilling for it and then refining and distributing the oil, these relatively small companies (for the oil and gas industry) concentrate on providing offshore drilling services. Some of them were formed during the last slump in oil prices by far-sighted investors with deep pockets, buying up equipment for pennies on the dollar. Many more were popped up just before the current boom in oil prices, or just recently to cater for the spike in demand for oil drilling services.
Here is a list of 50 offshore drilling companies to get you started:
- Nabors Industries
- Transocean
- Diamond Offshore
- Rowan Companies
- Schlumberger
- Stena Drilling
- Tesco Drilling
- Transocean Sedco
- Prosafe ASA
- Abbot Group
- Acteon
- Akita Drilling
- Altinex
- Atwood Oceanics
- Baker Hughes
- China Oilfield Services
- Crosco Drilling
- Dolphin Drilling
- Egyptian Drilling Company
- Franklin Howard International
- Fred. Olsen Energy
- Geoservices
- Global Marine Drilling
- GlobalSantaFe
- IKM Subsea Design
- Japan Drilling Co
- KCA Deutag Drilling
- Maersk Contractors
- Metzke Engineering
- Noble Drilling
- Pajak Engineering
- Parker Drilling
- PetroMena
- Reamco
- Seadrill
- Smedvig
- Smith International
- ENSCO International
- BLAKE Offshore
- CDIS
- Coastal Drilling Company
- Crosco
- Extended Reach Drilling
- Frigstad Offshore
- Jindal Drilling & Industries
- KCA DEUTAG Drilling
- Marine Drilling Companies
- National Drilling Services
- Neptune Drilling
- Ocean Rig
Do note that these are just 50 out of hundreds, with many more new companies formed each month to cater for the growing demand of the oil rush. As the entire oil and gas industry is very fast-moving right now, there is no guarantee that all the companies will still be around. After all, the major players like Shell will almost certainly try to buy them up to secure their own supply of oil rigs and crew. Some of these companies provide both onshore and offshore services and may even provide pipelining services, so be sure to make it clear in your cover letter and resume/cv.
Not all of the companies have websites or email. You may need to do some digging to find their snail mail or off-line address so that you can send them you cover letter and resume through the post office.
To get an offshore drilling job, you can go to the major players, or you can try the smaller specialist offshore drilling companies. The major players are of course more stable (at least during the oil boom). The smaller companies, on the other hand, provide more opportunity for advancement if you are bright and hardworking.