Frontier Drilling?

[Corky Fat Boy]

I have heard Frontier drilling has 2 new drillships (bully I and bully II) coming out this year, and one early next year. What about the company itself? Vessels in good shape?

thanks.

[Capt. Lee]

Yeah I think those two (bully I and bully II) are in pretty good shape since they are brand new and are not finished with construction yet.

All other vessels are very old.

[CaptVal]

Yeah I think those two (bully I and bully II) are in pretty good shape since they are brand new and are not finished with construction yet.

All other vessels are very old.

The other vessels are old rigs converted and re-furbished.

[Corky]

I have heard Frontier drilling has 2 new drillships (bully I and bully II) coming out this year, and one early next year. What about the company itself? Vessels in good shape?

thanks.

Have not been on either of the Bully rigs, but worked on two of their other drillships. RUN THE OTHER WAY!!!!!! The pay is pretty good, but the upper management is a nightmare & really pushes the crews to do things which go contrary to good maritime practices. When a bunch of the folks stood up and protested, they were told they were welcome to go elsewhere . . . and they did. Many of the senior folks prefer to lie to your face, even when the truth would work better & I witnessed multiple incidents where they made modifications which were completely against class standards . . . even when this was explained to them by the rig crews. The response was always "this is our rig, we'll do what we want with it". Don't just take my word for it, start asking around, this is one VERY scary organization to work for.

[spinny02]

They were just bought by Noble so the pay will probly drop ALOT.

[oilfieldhoss]

Two words for this if you are a Frontier hand GET OUT ! and two words if you are thinking about going to work for Noble NO WAY ! I worked for Frontier and was great pay and benifits you might as well work for communist if you go there to work for Noble ! Their pay and benifts SUCK and you are theated like 3rd rate workers and need no 20th century accomidations are communication with the outside worldIf you ask direct questons they either will lie to your face are say they dont know whn you know dam well they do! Dont trust them. They will look you in the eye and smile the whole will be bending you over laughing !

[cmakin]

Two words for this if you are a Frontier hand GET OUT ! and two words if you are thinking about going to work for Noble NO WAY ! I worked for Frontier and was great pay and benifits you might as well work for communist if you go there to work for Noble ! Their pay and benifts SUCK and you are theated like 3rd rate workers and need no 20th century accomidations are communication with the outside worldIf you ask direct questons they either will lie to your face are say they dont know whn you know dam well they do! Dont trust them. They will look you in the eye and smile the whole will be bending you over laughing !

Priceless.

[c.captain]

Priceless.

and your point is? Please elaborate further on your very eloquently stated position...

[anchorman]

and your point is? Please elaborate further on your very eloquently stated position...

Priceless - an adjective, meaning the remark was " Highly amusing, absurd, or odd: a priceless remark."
Kinda speaks for itself without elaborating because most will agree that it WAS pretty amusing post........I doubt any type of "position" could ensue over that.

[c.captain]

I cannot help but believe that cmakin was mocking Oilfieldhoss's post...cmakin has been throughout this and other treads relating to the Frontier/Noble sale and subsequent cuts in pay and benefits with pretty much consistent distain for those who are being made to take significant cuts at the hands of a company they did not originally choose to work for. In fact there are quite a few Frontier hands who specifically left Noble to go to work with Frontier...now they are right back to where they started. Personally, I do not see humor in this but sadness at the fact that the companies in this business don't really treat their mariners with respect and this a pretty clear case of being dissed by the man! As I have said before, Noble's attitude towards their people as "our way or the highway" and there are man ex Noble hands who I believe will agree with me on that point!

[anchorman]

I cannot help but believe that cmakin was mocking Oilfieldhoss's post...cmakin has been throughout this and other treads relating to the Frontier/Noble sale and subsequent cuts in pay and benefits with pretty much consistent distain for those who are being made to take significant cuts at the hands of a company they did not originally choose to work for. In fact there are quite a few Frontier hands who specifically left Noble to go to work with Frontier...now they are right back to where they started. Personally, I do not see humor in this but sadness at the fact that the companies in this business don't really treat their mariners with respect and this a pretty clear case of being dissed by the man! As I have said before, Noble's attitude towards their people as "our way or the highway" and there are man ex Noble hands who I believe will agree with me on that point!

Yeah, I didn't see any motive on his part. I must have missed that if that was the case, but I don't think anyone could possibly be happy at result of the Frontier merger. For myself, I was in Houston, and was hired for the Disco as C/M, but backed out when prospect for the Bully did not look good during the interview. Souza changed their hiring procedures as a result. For different reasons now, I think I made the right move.
But as far as the post, outside of reading the tea leaves here, the poster was being facetious (with his little smiley face with the sunglasses), and cmakin was responding to how he said it - not necessarily what was said. At least, that's how I read it. Unless I missed something...which does happen.

[cmakin]

I cannot help but believe that cmakin was mocking Oilfieldhoss's post...cmakin has been throughout this and other treads relating to the Frontier/Noble sale and subsequent cuts in pay and benefits with pretty much consistent distain for those who are being made to take significant cuts at the hands of a company they did not originally choose to work for. In fact there are quite a few Frontier hands who specifically left Noble to go to work with Frontier...now they are right back to where they started. Personally, I do not see humor in this but sadness at the fact that the companies in this business don't really treat their mariners with respect and this a pretty clear case of being dissed by the man! As I have said before, Noble's attitude towards their people as "our way or the highway" and there are man ex Noble hands who I believe will agree with me on that point!

"distain". Man, y'all crack me up. Oh, "this and other threads"? Geez.

I was really commenting about how he complains about being treated like a 3rd rate worker by using 3rd rate English. THAT is priceless. Oh, and I liked the communist comment, too.

As far as Noble? I bet that I could find just as many long term Noble employees that like it there as you could find ex Noble hands that agree with you. Now, I have my own opinion about Noble, but it has nothing to do with whether or not they GIVE their personnel internet access.

But that isn't my point here. Although it does still sound a bit like whining.

[c.captain]

Mr cmakin

I know you have not worked offshore for many years (I am assuming that you did work offshore as a mariner at some point in your career) so your words don't mean a whole hell of a lot to me. I have been in the offshore industry now full time for four years after 22 years on other vessels including deepsea. I feel I speak from a much closer position to the mariners being forced to change from Frontier to Noble than yourself.

Call me a whiner if you will. Frankly, I am tired to this "tet a tet" with you and have more important matters at hand than this. I'll just close by asking you to state to others here how your opinion that the Frontier/Noble deal is positive for any offshore mariners?

[cmakin]

Mr cmakin

I know you have not worked offshore for many years (I am assuming that you did work offshore as a mariner at some point in your career) so your words don't mean a whole hell of a lot to me. I have been in the offshore industry now full time for four years after 22 years on other vessels including deepsea. I feel I speak from a much closer position to the mariners being forced to change from Frontier to Noble than yourself.

Call me a whiner if you will. Frankly, I am tired to this "tet a tet" with you and have more important matters at hand than this. I'll just close by asking you to state to others here how your opinion that the Frontier/Noble deal is positive for any offshore mariners?

I would certainly say that it is a positive thing. I do not know the details regarding the sale of Frontier, but I can assume that it was profitable for them to sell to Noble. So much for their "caring for the employees". One has to wonder what would have happened if Frontier DIDN'T sell, or sold to a different operator, possibly based overseas (I know that Noble, like many other contractors have moved their corporate governance overseas, but they are still basically a US company and hire most of their personnel from the US). It certainly IS positive for offshore mariners in that these units will be working. My point is that having free access to internet isn't a big deal. I don't get it at home (I have to pay for it, don't you?), so why I should expect my employer to allow me to have personal access is beyond me. I even find it amusing that someone (was it you?) that was complaining about having sights blocked by NetNanny or similar.

Just for the record, I started sailing deep sea 32 years ago. Now I am based ashore, but work offshore and/or on both ocean going vessels and offshore equipment as needed and have for the past 22 years.. I may not work offshore on rotation, but I certainly do get offshore.

[oilfieldhoss]

Sorry if you think I have 3rd rate english and writing skills. What I do have is 30+ years of oilfield experiance on land,offshore and deepwater. I did not finish school but did manage to get a GED and a pocket full of tickets and certifications. Just expressing my thoughts about the situation forced on hands with no options at the present time but look else where! And by the way all the companies I have worked for have had internet acsess for a long time to use skype are yahoo voice to keep in touch!