It is a “dream come true” with the master’s degree from LiU!

To be honest, it’s even far away from my optimistic dream as a student of the Mechanical Engineering programme, graduating in 2011. Imagine if your work place is one of human marvels. Imagine if you travel from and to your work place by helicopter. Imagine if you need months of safety training such as helicopter under water egress training (HUET), fire fighting, CPR techniques, survival techniques with life rafts, etc. just to go to your work place.

It is life offshore in the Norwegian continental shelf. Why do I call my work place one of human marvels? Check out some facts about few oil platforms in North Sea. For example, ‘Troll A’ platform standing 472 meters tall, weighing 1.2 million tons is the tallest built structure ever moved by mankind. It is located 80 km from the shore of Bergen in the North Sea.

Why is life on offshore platforms different from life onshore? A normal offshore work day starts very early. Breakfast will be at 06:00, work starts at 07:00 and ends at 19:00. Typically, an oil platforms never stops working. It works 24 hours/day, 365 days/year to produce crude oil which is then sent to oil refineries to extract petroleum products. High waves, petroleum reservoir state, cold temperatures, rough weather, emergency preparedness, water depth, strong winds, small movements (in case of floating platforms), etc. makes the place quite different from onshore.

I have been out on a few offshore platforms in the North Sea and it’s a world in itself. From drilling and production machinery, canteen and living quarters to billiard rooms, sauna, solarium, 3D theatre and gym, all existing in the middle of the sea, hundreds kilometres away from the shore makes the oil platform something special. In fact, some of the best chefs in Norway have been working on oil and gas platforms. A delicacy every day is probably a luxury for normal people, but certainly not for oil and gas production giants who operate in the North Sea.

Life is more exciting as an engineer in the offshore oil and gas sector. Having had the opportunity to participate in the complete lifecycle of a product, I spend time working on product design at the office in Bergen. As well as that I traveled to offshore platforms in the North Sea to test the machinery, leading an amphibian lifestyle. In my case offshore trips could typically last from three days to a week. Apart from this, offshore travels are always accompanied by breath-taking views, thus making the trip relaxing and enjoyable. Nothing could be more interesting if we don’t have fun at work! For instance, during Saint Lucy’s Day we prepared a ‘pepparkaka’ crane! The whole crane is fully edible and is made of ginger bread, chocolate and liquorice and is glued with sugar syrup! Thanks to LiU for preparing me for this exciting job. My Scandinavian adventure continues!
 

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Last updated: Thu Aug 16 13:55:53 CEST 2012