JOKE FOR THE DAY
Note a posting for a position that ask for a

"Senior Planner with 3 years experience in mining and Petro Chem." WHAT A JOKE and i replied as below.

How in the world can you advert for a Senior Planner with 3 years experience ??? This is so conflicting. To be a Senior Planner you must have at least 10 years experience. FYI.

My God whats the world coming to.

Have a awsome day, Bill

Hello Joshi,

You, civil planner, can work in the oil/gas sector as long as you know the fundamentals of planning, generally in the Primavera P3 envionment. You also need to have an understanding of the process (a lot of process in the oil and gas due to corporate patents), piping, P&I D and commissioning sequence. If you will work with an EPIC contractor, then, you need to be conversant in the planning phase from Engineering, Procurement, Installation (Construction) and Commissioning. Sometimes you will also do shutdown planning and scheduling. You also have to take note of long lead items in your procurement schedule since most of the equipment will be manufactured in other countries, will be ship and will be installed at site.

You will be tempted to elaborate on the civil side to the planning. However, you will notice that the civil portion is minimal compared to the overall scope of work including the value of work. The bulk of the scheduling inputs will be in the mechanical, electrical, control and instrumentation and commissioning. You will start to hear new productivity jargon: dia inch, tonnes of stell pipes, etc. Also be prepared for the challenge since you will be dealing with diverse professional and specialist, mechanical, electrical, control and instrumentation, commissioning, etc.

Eventually, you will start to listen to your heart if you are really interested in this kind of environment. Also you will take a hard look of you career advancement.

Good luck and i wish you all the best in your decision

Dear Daya,
I would love to experience de-commissioning (playfully).
Actually, if someone can inform about the details of the following project, it would be worthwhile
" A Chemical Plant was transferred/shifted/shipped from the shores of Africa to India (not in one piece) and then replanted & commissioned".
I hope someone throws a light about this venture.

Cheers!
Dattatreya

One is an incomplete planner without Construction/Commissioning planning experience. This is especially true in Oil/Gas sector and working in EPC companies.
Working in E&P companies is really enjoyable not much at stake.
You prepare plans for Basic Engg, Design & Procuremnt. If the Contract is E&P, What is the completion date? i.e delivery dates right from Equipment bolts/ Equipments/Piping materials to Field Instrument.
Real challenge of planning in Oil/Gas sector lies in total Planning right from Concept to commissioning.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Regards
PS Dattatreya

Joshi,

The choice is yours. Best wishes for your future undertaking.

Regards.

Joshi I did try like you for O&G and I have a similar background as you but never made it...till now

Any Takers ???

P.s. Trust my present employer is not a member in this forum


Cheers

Sunil

Hi

Yes ofcourse you can come as a petrochemical planner.
If you dont want to go on sites, then you can join an engineering company and plan & control the E/P part.

Hi

Philip

Maybe AACE survey is based on members only but 1 100 members (World wide) contributed to this survey. I say looking at the numbers it can not be that far out.

Maybe we should ask PP to something the same.

MD planners are as far as I am concern is few. I know approx 10 True Multi Discipline Planners.

Cheers

Hi Joshi,

In Plant Turnaround there is no civil planner. Usually they refer the P3/MSP planner as a scheduler.

Regards.

Hi Jaco,

Maybe underpaid, but I see you are still very active here on PP.

Here everybody is looking for planners, had about 10 calls in the last week and a half, maybe time to come home.

Regards

Philip

Think Philip answered very well, concur with him

No, am not a AACE member, in fact looked at the rates they have posted and find them extremely low.

Had a head hunter call last month, and sent me a wage survey form, he was making a survey of wages, he came back to me and said the range was so great, and the market for planners changed so much every week, that it was not poss. to make a survey on Planners. So many varables, like a P3 planner with 10 years experience vs a MS Projects Planner with 5 y ears, covers a large span.

Having said that, must state I have not been driven by the money as much as the job. A good project is a challange and enjoy it, the Money has always been good to me and has taken care of itself.

In my experience, the more trouble the job is in time wise, the more they are prepared to pay, regardless of discipline, for somebody to help them out of the quagmires, which they land themselves in the first place, by only looking at the financial side in the first place when selecting people.
I think what Bill has to say, especially where you are from, definitely plays a role in the ME. I have experienced this, and recruiters openly admit it. I also think you cannot generalise on rates prer discipline, as a lot of other factors play a role in projects, suchas risk, size of projects, and various other factors. Availability or non-availability of experienced people at the time can also affect rates.

Strange

The Highiste Paid Planner is

1) Pharmaceuticals
2) Transportation
3) Construction



7) Oil & Gas

Joshi,

If you are realy want to move to oil&gas field, try to join Plant Turnaround team. In Plant Turnaround they have Mechanical Planner, Machinery Planner, Electrical Planner and Instrument Planner. The planners will prepare job method sheets (JMS) that contains job description, manpower (manhour) & equipment information. As a scheduler you will use the JMS to develop the schedule for the contractors.

Once you gain the experience in Plant Turnaround you can move to project in oil&gas field.

Regards.

Once we are talking about Planning Engineer we should assume that the person has minimum engineering degree (not only short term course) and more ever I was replying in case of 10 years experience Civil Planner. Who almost knows the required technical back ground of the projects.

Also if the planner involve in pipeline work, he must be able to read the line diagram, identify total number of joints, valves location, welding period (eg. 22~25 dia inch/hr), x-ray etc.

Regards.

Planning fundamentals are same in any field of planning, so one who have planning skill & experience could work in any field. Only thing in case of Oil /Gas, you need to know what are the basic things and what type of facilities required to produce & transport Oil/Gas, what are the Hazards, Risks and basic terminology of the Oil/Gas. I think civil planner can get entry in facilites construction in Oil and Gas.