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Other rig workers
Besides the drilling crew, many other persons work at the rig site. They may be there
during the entire time the well is being drilled, or they may come out only when their expertise or
equipment is needed.
The Company Representative
The operating company customarily has an employee on the drill site to supervise its
interests. The company representative, or company man, on a land rig, like the rig superintendent,
usually lives on the rig site in a mobile home or portable building. Offshore, the company man has
an office and designated quarters. In either case, the company representative is in charge of all the
operator's activities on the location. This person helps plan the strategy for drilling the well, orders
the needed supplies and services, and makes on-site decisions that affect the well's progress. The
company representative and the rig superintendent usually work closely together.
Area Drilling Superintendent
Large land drilling contractors, who may operate rigs all over the world and who often have
several rigs working in a particular area, often employ an area drilling superintendent. This
person's job is to manage and coordinate the activities of the many rigs the drilling company has
working in a particular area or region. An area superintendent's duties include disseminating
important information to each rig in the region, ensuring that all rigs are operating well and safely,
and assisting each rig's superintendent when required. Area drilling superintendents frequently
travel from rig to rig, so they usually have an office in a town or city in the area.
Offshore Personnel
Offshore, the sea and the remoteness of the site complicate operations. The contractor
therefore requires more personnel than on land. For example, in many areas, regulations require that
offshore rigs have an offshore installation manager ('OIM). The OIM is in charge of the entire rig and
has the final say in any decision that affects the operation. In some cases, the rig superintendent is
also the OIM; in other cases, the rig has an OIM as well as a rig superintendent.
Offshore contractors also hire several roustabouts. Roustabouts are general workers on the rig
whose duties include unloading supplies from boats to the rig. They also keep the offshore facility
in good repair. A crane operator runs the rig's cranes and supervises the roustabouts. Cranes transfer
supplies to and from boats. Radio operators install, maintain, and repair complex radio gear that
keeps the rig in constant contact with shore facilities. Medics provide first aid and are often
certified emergency medical technicians (EMTs), who can stabilize injured personnel and prepare
them for evacuation to shore.
On floating rigs, such as drill ships and semisubmersibles, more personnel are required
because in some ways floating rigs are like ships. Not only do floating rigs drill, but also they move
on the ocean’s surface just as ships do. Consequently, floaters require marine crews, individuals
whose primary responsibilities have to do with the sea-going aspects of the rig.
As mentioned before, some floating offshore rigs use anchors to hold them in place on the
water's surface while drilling. Other floaters employ dynamic positioning, which involves advanced
computer-assisted equipment and special propellers (thrusters) to hold them in position on the
water's surface. Such rigs require a dynamic positioning operator. Dynamic positioning operators
maintain, repair, and monitor equipment.
Floating rigs also require subsea equipment. Crew members place the equipment on the
seafloor and operate it from the rig on the water's surface. Such equipment includes subsea blowout
preventers. When closed, these large valves keep high pressure fluids from escaping to the surface
should the well encounter them. Accordingly, floating rigs employ subsea equipment supervisors (also
called "subsea engineers"), whose primary job is to keep the equipment in good working order and
supervise its installation on the seafloor. Often, floaters also have an assistant subsea equipment
supervisor.
Also associated with floating offshore rigs are barge engineers, who are also, called "barge
masters" or "barge control operators." Semisubmersible rigs, whose pontoon-shaped hulls are
submerged just below the water's surface, require barge engineers to keep the rig stable and trim

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