Who employs people offshore?
• Operating companies hold the exploration and production licences and operate the production facilities. Some of them are household names, but others are less well known. Most of them are international companies, working in many different parts of the world. • Drilling companies are contracted to undertake the drilling work, and often operate and maintain their own mobile drilling rigs. Like the operating companies, they tend to work globally. • Major contractors provide integrated operations and maintenance services to the operating companies. On some installations they employ almost all the regular offshore personnel (the ‘core crew’). Some of these contractors are huge international companies, while others are small by comparison. • FPSO operators operate and maintain floating production storage and offloading units. These look like ships, but are designed to remain on station for months or even years on end, and are packed with equipment for processing oil and gas. • Service compa
