Working for Asian National Oil Companies - An Attractive Choice?

In the current industry climate, job security appears high on the agenda of existing and potential employees, who are now more willing to accept a moderate change in their wage demand.

“NOCs are not cutting but holding on for now. I see an opportunity there and they want skilled labor. Personally, I received a small increase in my salary when I changed jobs, but I heard there are others that do not mind taking a small cut” to secure a job, the former Technip employee, who has asked to remain anonymous, explained to Rigzone.

PETRONAS – Total Employees

Still, there were indications that some expatriate staff were made redundant by PETRONAS. In 2012 and 2013, contract staff – that possibly included expatriate workers – accounted for 8.6 percent and 10.3 percent of the 5,428 and 3,699 new hires at the Malaysian NOC, respectively. 

“PETRONAS cuts a lot of its expatriate contractors … and there is no news on their hiring plan for this year,” Ross Gregory, team manager of Oil & Gas Practice at Hydrogen Group plc in Singapore, commented to Rigzone.

ONGC Bucks Trend on CAPEX

In contrast to IOCs and many Asian NOCs, ONGC, India’s largest upstream oil and gas producer, has bucked the global trend among petroleum firms.

Instead of responding to the oil price downtrend by reducing CAPEX, laying off staff and adopting other cost-cutting measures, ONGC announced plans to raise its capital spending. In February, the Indian upstream player announced it will raise its CAPEX to $5.8 billion (INR 3.625 trillion) for fiscal year 2015-2016, commencing April 1, up from $5.57 billion (INR 3.481 trillion) in the previous year.