Hi - I was listening to Regional ABC today about lunch time - I...

Hi - I was listening to Regional ABC today about lunch time - I have tried to post a link at the very bottom of this post - but I am not as computer savvy as some others so hopefully someone else may be able to do it - the guts of the extended interview was that the average age of divers in the North Sea was 57!! Anyway here is the shortened version and I am sure that their will be comments!!


Offshore divers make most of booming oil and gas industry
By Laurissa Smith

Monday, 14/09/2009

Have you ever wondered who goes down to the bottom of the ocean to do the hard work on things like underwater pipes?

The divers who do it earn a good living, some can make around $1,200 a day.

There's no shortage of work either, with a stack of offshore oil and gas projects taking off in WA's north.

Just one catch, you can't get freaked out working up to 30 metres underwater.

It doesn't worry Chris Hardeman, he was a butcher for many years before he decided to wear a wetsuit to work.

"It's a better job I guess, being outside and a lot more interesting work I think, it's a complete job change and that's the best part about doing it," he says.

"I guess the only thing I've brought from butchering is putting your head down and doing a hard days work."

Troy Nuttall is the operations manager with Oceanic Offshore, a commercial diving services company based in Dampier.

His family has been involved in the industry since the 1970s.

He says its an exciting time if you're a commercial diver in the offshore oil and gas business.

"It's always a very dynamic industry and you don't know what your doing next month," he says.

"You can always put in your bids and hope for that and it's a very busy little port and there's lots of other jobs going on other than this project."

"I'm only going to have a good stab at it if I hang around the region, so I'm not going anywhere for a little while," he says.

In this report: Chris Hardeman, commercial diver; Troy Nuttall, operations manager, Oceanic Offshore

Listen: Listen to an extended interview here (RealAudio).
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/wa/content/2009/09/s2685505.htm