Communications

Oil Production Electronics Instrumentation Jobs

One of the fastest growing careers in electronics is in the field of oil and gas production equipment instrumentation and automation technician jobs. After an oil well is completed and before it is hooked up to tanks or pipelines, oilfield instrumentation companies will install specialized metering systems to record how much oil and natural gas are produced, as well as safety sensors to let the oilfield pumper (production employee) know if tanks are getting too full, or if dangerous H2S gas is present. Oil and gas companies depend on these electronic sensors to keep things flowing smoothly and employees safe from dangerous situations.

What Is An Oilfield Instrumentation Job Like?

A typical employee may drive a company issued truck to service oil well instruments on land, or go by crewboat or helicopter to offshore production platforms. They may check for and replace failed sensors, install automated valve controllers, emergency shutdown systems and “deadman switches”, service satellite dishes and other tasks. Electronic natural gas metering stations at wells on land are typically connected by RF links, and part of the oilfield electronics tech’s job may be checking radio signal strength, troubleshooting nodes of the network, climbing towers and maintaining radio antennas used to transmit information to company offices, and much more.

The job of an oilfield electronics technician may involve long hours away from home and being called out in the middle of the night when sensors on production platforms or land wells are malfunctioning. The job requires a thorough understanding of complex oil and gas production systems such as valves, high pressure piping, gas compressors, wellheads, production tanks, pumpjacks and more.

How To Get A Job As An Oil and Gas Production Electronics Technician

Attending an electronics technical school as part of a two year program in electronics technology is a good way to get started. In addition, oil companies look for those with electronics experience from other jobs and the military. Since much of the technology is unique to the industry, there may be a company training or apprentice program that lasts several weeks before the technician is allowed to work alone in the field.  A drug test is required of all employees, as well as a clean criminal background check.

To find oilfield instrumentation jobs see sites such as Texasoilfieldjob.com and the classified sections of newspapers in oil producing areas such as Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana and Texas.