Drilling consultants, or drilling supervisors, provide onsite supervision of day-to-day drilling operations on behalf of the contract operating company. These individuals ensure the safety of all personnel on location while successfully executing the operator’s drilling plan and reaching target depth as quickly and cost effectively as possible.
Drilling consultants are contracted by operators for specific projects during their contract term. They are essentially an extension of the operator in the field.
The Responsibilities of a Drilling Consultant include:
- Ensuring operations are conducted in accordance with safety and environmental standards, government regulations and company policies and procedures.
- Managing day-to-day activities of rig contractor personnel and third party contractors.
- Maintaining daily activity reports, cost tracking, vendor evaluations and other reports as required.
- Coordinating with engineering and purchasing departments to ensure necessary services/equipment are available when needed.
- Conferring with supervisor and engineers and making recommendations to optimize field operations and ensure effective teamwork between office and field personnel
- All operations conducted on site or on staging areas for well site.
Drilling supervisors are highly knowledgeable and skilled in their industry with many having 20 to 30 years of oilfield experience. However, it is not uncommon for individuals with 10 to 15 years’ experience to break into these roles.
The age range for drilling supervisors is generally between 35 and 50 years old with a weighted average between 50 and 70. However, some individuals are able to begin careers as drilling consultants in their late 20s, especially those with a background in engineering.
