re: mudlogging on oil rigs

I can walk onto any location in the world, and there can be a 100 people on that location, and i can spot the Mudloggers in 30 seconds!

I work with a guy who used to mudlog right out of college. He said it sucked but he stuck it out for 3 years, and moved onto better things. He's a Professional Geologist in a Management position now so if you use it as a stepping stone to better things there's no reason not to. Looks better on a resume than waiting tables after you graduate.

I use to work in the IT group for a mud logging company in Lafayette. I spent a lot of time out in the field. All the mud loggers they had were trashy old men or loser younger guys. The made pretty good money but most work 300 days a year and would blow their checks on booze and god knows what else when they were off. shite half of them lived out of motels because they worked so much.

Takes samples of drilling mud from the shakers on the rig floor and examines the formations that they are drilling in. Makes logs, keeps track of depth rate of penetration, gas levels. Smokes 2 cartons of cigarettes and watches porn all shift.

Coo.

It isn't the lowest position on a rig but it is definitely one of the least respected and you will be starting out as a sample catcher. The guys that nobody even bothers to learn their names.

And like the one poster said, you can walk on a rig with 100 POB and pick out the mud loggers in less than an hour. They are always the strangest people on the rig. Probably because they have to spend all their time in a lab and don't engage with others much. That means they also aren't able to easily learn the other operations that take place and how they are performed. That's why it isn't considered by most in the industry as a good stepping stone.

Most people who go into mud logging get stuck in the job. Try to get on with an MWD/LWD company. It doesn't need to be a major. There are many small MWD companies out there now.

Honestly I would probably choose to start out as a roughneck over a mud logger.

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I'm curious, what does a mud logger make these days?

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Not sure but I doubt it has increased at the same rate as the technology driven positions, or the positions that require high skill levels due to the difficulty of wells drilled now. The job really hasn't changed much in 40 years. Just newer computers, more mud pits, more shakers, and remote displays.

Most land operations don't even use loggers.

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Have you ever seen a casing crew?

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They pull in some money tho, the worm on the crew will pull in $130,000.. Pushers and supervisors upwards of $250,000

I know a few guys who pull a day rate above $400 and a monthly salary around $2400,however they have about 5 years experience in the field. I only know guys who do this on deep water rigs, I can't speak for land work.

As service hands go it's not close to being the worse gig on a deep water rig.