Oil and gas is the best-paid sector in Nigeria and the hardest to enter, for a structural reason: very little hiring happens directly. Operators hire contractors, contractors hire subcontractors, and the route in is usually through one of those layers.
Understand the chain before you apply
- 1Operators — the major producers. They hire few people directly, mostly experienced engineers.
- 2Service companies — the companies that actually do the work: drilling, inspection, fabrication, logistics, catering, maintenance. This is where most jobs are.
- 3Subcontractors — smaller firms supplying labour to the service companies. The most common entry point, and the least secure.
- 4NCDMB compliance — the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board requires operators to use Nigerian companies and labour. Understanding this helps you target companies that must hire locally.
HSE: the realistic route
Health, Safety and Environment is the most popular entry into oil and gas, and the most oversupplied. The certifications that genuinely appear in adverts are:
- NEBOSH (International General Certificate) — the one most consistently named.
- IOSH Managing Safely — shorter and cheaper, a reasonable substitute for junior roles.
- First aid and fire safety certificates from a recognised provider.
- HSE level 1–3 from Nigerian providers — common in adverts, worth getting if a specific employer asks.
Engineering and technical roles
Mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, process and civil engineers are hired on project cycles. Specific things that matter in Nigerian adverts:
- Software fluency — AutoCAD, MATLAB, Primavera, SAP. Named tools get interviews.
- Registration — COREN for engineers, and membership of NSE or SPE.
- Project scale — “managed a ₦400m pipeline inspection” beats “worked on pipeline projects”.
- Permit-to-work and isolation experience, if you have it. These are operational realities employers test for.
Where the jobs are advertised
Port Harcourt and Bonny for upstream and marine; Warri and Escravos for the western delta; Lagos for head offices and offshore logistics; Abuja for policy, regulation and headquarters functions. Roles are often advertised for a short window and filled quickly, so being early matters more here than in any other sector.
If you are a graduate with no route in
Target the service companies and the contractors around them, not the operators. Take a junior or technician role that puts you on a site. Get one recognised certificate. After two years on a site, you are a different candidate entirely — and the operators start calling.
Staff, contract and the difference it makes
There are two kinds of employment in Nigerian oil and gas, and they are not close. Staff roles sit with the operator or a major contractor: salary, pension, HMO, leave, a career path. Contract roles sit with a service company for a defined project — often rotational, often renewed, sometimes ending abruptly when the project does. Both are legitimate. Only one behaves like a job you can plan a life around.
Rotation is the part people underestimate. A 28-on, 28-off schedule looks generous until you count the travel days, the offshore medical, and the fact that you are unavailable to any other employer for half the year. Ask what the rotation actually is, where you sleep, what the camp food and medical cover look like, and what happens to your pay if the weather stops helicopter flights for three days.
- Ask about mobilisation and demobilisation pay. Some contractors pay only for days on site; others pay a monthly rate regardless.
- Check the medical and survival certificates. BOSIET or HUET and a valid offshore medical are usually required before you can board.
- Ask who holds the contract — the operator, the main contractor, or a sub-contractor hired by that contractor. Payment reliability follows that chain.
- Do not pay for a “placement”. Recruitment into oil and gas is by application, not by agent fee.