My replies after yours:
- Semi submersible is an offshore vessel that is afloat on its' own. It's anchored to the seabed by anchor chains. They are used for deep sea drilling. The other type is the Jack up rigs which stands on "legs". You would have noticed these offshore rigs in Straits Times which appear frequently. Our Keppel and Sembawang Marine are 2 of the biggest producers of these rigs.
- A Norwegian drilling company. There are only a handful in Singapore so you should be able to make out.
- When offshore - US$13.5K. When back home US$11K. Tax free cos the pay is drawn overseas. No
CPF though, to be precise.
- There is no annual leave in this job.
When back on home leave, I stay home. No need to go to office cos I'm not an office staff and have no business to be there. During home leave, this is the time to do all the things
that I must do, ICT, run errands, go for family holidays, company courses etc. When I'm offshore, I'm not allowed to return home until the 4 weeks is up unless it's very urgent, e.g. someone's passing. Also on the -ve side, you miss out half of the time seeing your kids grow up, send them to school or the PD when they fall sick. Plus side is, you get to do all these every day when on home leave.
- 12hrs per day and on shift, either 6 to 6 or 12 to 12, 7 days a week, 28 days straight out. It burns a lot of your energy at the end of your 4 weeks but it keeps one fit. Good thing about working offshore is, you don't spend a penny cos there ain't no shops on the rig. 4 meals a day are provided and the food quality is good. Usually buffet with Asian and Western.
- No 13th or varriable bonus like you guys get on shore as they paid high basic in absolute term. But due to the competition for skilled workers in this area - which not many young people are willing to enter - they pay retention bonus every quarter which vary from US$1K to 2K, to prevent you from being poached by competitors.