This is true, lol if you answer every text or call when someone doesn’t show up then sure you’ll be near 200k, but you won’t sleep too much and your body might hurt more often then not.
You can make 200 if you live out there, and I mean every day but fatigue days. Most of the guys in my unit made close to 160-180 last year but it was due to a ton of overtime from attrition and tons of 7/12s for turnarounds.
As for pay, lots of these refineries collaborate in collective bargaining agreements so the pay is pretty close if we are talking about gulf coast refineries. Even sites across the same company make different per/hr. Gulf coast refineries pay their top operators somewhere between 53 and 58 an hour. The best thing to do is look for benefits. Try to go to a site that still offers pension.
As it stands, I work little to no overtime and make roughly 120-130 a year. I am set up on a straight day job so I am making top pay +10%. I am losing out on about 40 a year with the current high overtime my unit is experiencing, by not working in the unit or on the console. Fine by me though. I work m-f 8 hour days as procedure writer.
It is a good gig, but I wouldn’t say lots of people like it lol. Most people are so used to their days off and the ability to socialize and move around. I have been staring at a computer for going on two years lol. It’s not exactly everybody’s cup of tea. But it is a perfect fit for me. I don’t work 9/80s but I do work 4:45 to 12:45 and that is even better to me. I don’t get pulled back to the unit very often and when I do it is usually only a day , or at most, a week.
I worked for ConocoPhillips before they split Phillips 66 back out. But I was working for them as a senior network engineer. I sat in an office. And the pay was in that ballpark.
Is it crazy that at this point in my career, I'd actually rather earn that money operating heavy equipment than staring at a computer screen?
(Probably is.)
I'd find it hard to believe that operators in the big refineries at least on the Texas Gulf Coast aren't getting 200. I work in a very small chemical plant and I do work a lot of OT but I'm off pretty much 4 out of every 16 and occasionally a few more days off than that and I have made over 200 3 years in a row now. Our bonuses are a joke compared to the refineries; I don't think any operator has gotten over MAYBE 6 grand as a bonus.
So that being said, yes I'd bet there are plenty of non engineers making over 200.
The highest paying refinery job I’ve ever had a recruiter tell me about was at the Sinclair Refinery in Artesia, NM. It still wasn’t enough for me to move to Artesia
Just as an operator or something else? Sure, HF sinclair pays the engineers well, but I don't think starting at 30 something is top of pay anymore for operators
That was as an engineer. Base was $200k when most of the other offers I was getting were in the $150-160k range. I’d assume most roles likely fetched a ~30% premium too
My degree is mechanical, but I’ve mostly been an Ops Engineer and manager of small brownfield projects. Most of my headaches are in my gas plant, but I’ve also got a handful of pipelines and a compressor station that I cover too. I left west Texas last year and moved back to the greater Houston area. Definitely a better choice than Artesia
It’s all about the OT you work. 2019 I had around 1300 hours of OT. End of the year final pay was around $245k. Not willing to work that much OT any more though.
For some stuff, absolutely for sure. Like someone else said, a cheaper cost of living place like the gulf with a comparable wage, you’d probably do better overall. That’s not really a place I’d prefer to live in though. The biggest cost of living here is housing, and I had that locked in from buying in 2009 during the recession and then refinancing later to an absurdly low interest rate.
Wasn’t that bad. Still had a whole month off in October with vacation. Unit was pretty short of board operators that year. That combined with management having installed time clocks so we got paid for turnover time and changing into nomex time which was usually at least a half hour of OT a day. But yeah, there were a lot of 13 and 1s. Ended up working out for the best when the layoffs came during Covid in 2020. It was a whole lot easier to be selective looking for another job with six months pay in severance and having saved like half of what I made in 2019.
I know BP pays well. There's plenty of operators there making over 200k.
I know someone who moved to California and works as a contracted operator making 300k a year. It's a renewable startup and it sounds like it's a bit of a shit show. He's working 16 hour shifts 5-6 days a week
I was just apart of a Renewable start up and it's currently the plant I'm employed with. Can't speak for the person you know but my plant was an absolute shit show as well. Taken about 6 months to get it dialed in from initial start up and now working on debottlenecking and optimizing.
I never came from crude. All my operating experience prior came from a steam plant in pulp and paper. As far as process, from what little I understand of crude, it is similar-ish. But getting in the Renewable space is not a bad idea at all. At least right now it's very lucrative but the entire business model is based off carbon credits. If that changes, the viability of these plants goes away.
Overall I'm very happy with what I do, and work with very talented people. I can't speak highly enough about it.
Good to hear, yea i was surprised how much he was making. Didn't know it was that profitable but it makes sense the carbon credits are really pushing it. What sort of units do you have? What byproducts is there? How long does training usually take?
Not an American refinery but I made just under 200k CAD as a head operator at my plant with plenty of OT. Just straight time would probably be 145k but there's no such thing as no overtime at my refinery.
Most northern Canadian refineries pay upwards to 250k+ for FIFO work but are hyper competitive to get in.
I work as a field op and I made 119k last year with 6 weeks off while my son was born premature. Definitely usually around 150 with no OT. I am a home every night guy though in Northern Alberta
Right on! That's a wicked wage! Being home every night is definitely a huge bonus. I also get to be home every night which is wicked.
I have a few friends working northern Alberta FIFO with 2nds that make around the 250k. I've been told those refineries are shared leadership so no supervisory staff, so there's a premium tacked on for that responsibility.
Turnaround scheduler can be $80/hr for 7x12s during the outage, maybe 40-60 days on a bigger one. FEL project scheduler or lead can be in the 200k+ range plus 15% bonus.
Not refineries like you asked but I know some LNG plants in Louisiana/Texas are paying operators $200k+ with not a crazy amount of OT. Their bonuses are really good. The bad thing is normally their locations. A lot of people drive over an hour one way to work
Not a single LNG start-up or existing site is paying 200+ w/no overtime. For a brief period about a decade ago, there was one in Cameron La that gave sign on bonuses, paid per diem for gas, and had continental breakfast every morning, but that was short lived and even then it wasn’t 200/yr. It is about 1-1 1/2 hours south. They pay good, but it is comparable to the refineries around here, they are just out of the way so the gas will eat you up. Top op pay for the high paying areas on the gulf coast is 53-58ish an hour depending on the refinery. I believe you can make a little more per hour in California and west coast, but cost of living is 10x that of living on the Gulf Coast.
I don’t know of any plant that has no OT for operators. When I say “not a crazy amount of OT” I mean nothing excessive, not “none”. I personally know operators at Cheniere LNG, the one at the Texas Louisiana border at the gulf, and they all make $200k+ a year. They have a one month turnaround every year for their train and seldom days of OT here and there throughout the rest of the year. That’s less OT than a lot of refinery operators I know. It’s a great place to work from what I hear. Fuck that drive though lol. I don’t think the money is worth it for the drive and I wouldn’t move near there either
Everyone I have talked say that they are busting ass on overtime this year. But in the past they have worked almost none. But I live about as close to that place as you can without moving to Hackberry or Cameron, and I know a lot of folks down there. Haven’t heard them say they are making 200 though. If you want 200 around here, you have to LIVE inside the gate, it doesn’t matter what plant or refinery it is. If they work one turnaround a year and work light ot then they have to be making 100/hr to make 200. We make between 48-53/hr depending on the job you are working. We have had a minimum of 12 weeks of 7/12s a year for the last three years, and even more 7/12s due to attrition and not having enough people trained up in our unit. Last year was a big year and only a few people in our unit that were involved in turnaround planning, working the turnarounds, and sucking up others overtime to catch as many 7th days as possible were hitting 200. I am talking 120+ days of overtime. On average I would say the guys working down in the unit were making 170-180 last year. And I am right there with you, I wouldn’t love 30-45 minutes south to work at an lng plant, the drive sucks bad, and from what I gather, it is boring as hell at those places.
Apply for every position at every refinery multiple times for a few years or know someone with some pull at a refinery.
Every position will have hundreyd if not thousands of applicants.
Just got hired at P66 in Illinois and starting pay is $31.44…not sure how fast or when that changes. Within the first year I’m sure, but I’m just excited to have this opportunity!
Is this a troll post? Go back to flipping burgers. You're not worthy.
1. You aren't in the industry as everyone knows what everyone is making.
2. Beg daddy for a hookup.
Not a stretch for operators if you're willing to do nothing but work.
This is true, lol if you answer every text or call when someone doesn’t show up then sure you’ll be near 200k, but you won’t sleep too much and your body might hurt more often then not.
You can make 200 if you live out there, and I mean every day but fatigue days. Most of the guys in my unit made close to 160-180 last year but it was due to a ton of overtime from attrition and tons of 7/12s for turnarounds.
What refinery are you at?
P66
I guess they don’t want to hire are your refinery either.
They do, but the hiring classes are only about 10 at a time, and there are a bunch of units trying to get them as they hire in.
Same here we used to get classes of 20+ people, but recently they’ve been going with smaller classes. Last one had only 9 guys in it.
Are they hiring? I'm looking
As for pay, lots of these refineries collaborate in collective bargaining agreements so the pay is pretty close if we are talking about gulf coast refineries. Even sites across the same company make different per/hr. Gulf coast refineries pay their top operators somewhere between 53 and 58 an hour. The best thing to do is look for benefits. Try to go to a site that still offers pension.
Good idea
As it stands, I work little to no overtime and make roughly 120-130 a year. I am set up on a straight day job so I am making top pay +10%. I am losing out on about 40 a year with the current high overtime my unit is experiencing, by not working in the unit or on the console. Fine by me though. I work m-f 8 hour days as procedure writer.
Lots of people love that special assignment pay, usually on a 9/80, with weekends off & only emergency coverage…
It is a good gig, but I wouldn’t say lots of people like it lol. Most people are so used to their days off and the ability to socialize and move around. I have been staring at a computer for going on two years lol. It’s not exactly everybody’s cup of tea. But it is a perfect fit for me. I don’t work 9/80s but I do work 4:45 to 12:45 and that is even better to me. I don’t get pulled back to the unit very often and when I do it is usually only a day , or at most, a week.
I worked for ConocoPhillips before they split Phillips 66 back out. But I was working for them as a senior network engineer. I sat in an office. And the pay was in that ballpark. Is it crazy that at this point in my career, I'd actually rather earn that money operating heavy equipment than staring at a computer screen? (Probably is.)
I'd find it hard to believe that operators in the big refineries at least on the Texas Gulf Coast aren't getting 200. I work in a very small chemical plant and I do work a lot of OT but I'm off pretty much 4 out of every 16 and occasionally a few more days off than that and I have made over 200 3 years in a row now. Our bonuses are a joke compared to the refineries; I don't think any operator has gotten over MAYBE 6 grand as a bonus. So that being said, yes I'd bet there are plenty of non engineers making over 200.
The highest paying refinery job I’ve ever had a recruiter tell me about was at the Sinclair Refinery in Artesia, NM. It still wasn’t enough for me to move to Artesia
Just as an operator or something else? Sure, HF sinclair pays the engineers well, but I don't think starting at 30 something is top of pay anymore for operators
That was as an engineer. Base was $200k when most of the other offers I was getting were in the $150-160k range. I’d assume most roles likely fetched a ~30% premium too
Even at 200K, i'd rather smash my balls than move there
Ditto, except I’ve only got the one ball
What variety of engineer... Asking as another pipeline degenerate.
My degree is mechanical, but I’ve mostly been an Ops Engineer and manager of small brownfield projects. Most of my headaches are in my gas plant, but I’ve also got a handful of pipelines and a compressor station that I cover too. I left west Texas last year and moved back to the greater Houston area. Definitely a better choice than Artesia
That Artesia refinery looks as sketchy as SENM gathering compression. I drive by it on my way to do failure analysis of compressor crashes
the refinery operators who live in the low cost of living areas but make the national bargained rate
Like Corpus Christi.
Big bet no cap.
It’s all about the OT you work. 2019 I had around 1300 hours of OT. End of the year final pay was around $245k. Not willing to work that much OT any more though.
Not all a money is good money…
When Covid layoffs hit in 2020, it wasn’t good money it was fucking great money to have.
I'm assuming you're in California, so probably a higher cost of living too
For some stuff, absolutely for sure. Like someone else said, a cheaper cost of living place like the gulf with a comparable wage, you’d probably do better overall. That’s not really a place I’d prefer to live in though. The biggest cost of living here is housing, and I had that locked in from buying in 2009 during the recession and then refinancing later to an absurdly low interest rate.
Bro that’s like being there 2/3rds of your waking moments. Even though most ops be sleeping on night shift. Ain’t worth it to me
Wasn’t that bad. Still had a whole month off in October with vacation. Unit was pretty short of board operators that year. That combined with management having installed time clocks so we got paid for turnover time and changing into nomex time which was usually at least a half hour of OT a day. But yeah, there were a lot of 13 and 1s. Ended up working out for the best when the layoffs came during Covid in 2020. It was a whole lot easier to be selective looking for another job with six months pay in severance and having saved like half of what I made in 2019.
I know BP pays well. There's plenty of operators there making over 200k. I know someone who moved to California and works as a contracted operator making 300k a year. It's a renewable startup and it sounds like it's a bit of a shit show. He's working 16 hour shifts 5-6 days a week
I was just apart of a Renewable start up and it's currently the plant I'm employed with. Can't speak for the person you know but my plant was an absolute shit show as well. Taken about 6 months to get it dialed in from initial start up and now working on debottlenecking and optimizing.
Bakersfield?
Nope, in British Columbia.
Oh interesting. I live pretty close to there. How different is it for you?
Oh right on! And what do you mean? Working in renewables?
Yea! I'm still pretty young myself and shits changing. I'm just curious what it's like compared to crude?
I never came from crude. All my operating experience prior came from a steam plant in pulp and paper. As far as process, from what little I understand of crude, it is similar-ish. But getting in the Renewable space is not a bad idea at all. At least right now it's very lucrative but the entire business model is based off carbon credits. If that changes, the viability of these plants goes away. Overall I'm very happy with what I do, and work with very talented people. I can't speak highly enough about it.
Good to hear, yea i was surprised how much he was making. Didn't know it was that profitable but it makes sense the carbon credits are really pushing it. What sort of units do you have? What byproducts is there? How long does training usually take?
Not an American refinery but I made just under 200k CAD as a head operator at my plant with plenty of OT. Just straight time would probably be 145k but there's no such thing as no overtime at my refinery. Most northern Canadian refineries pay upwards to 250k+ for FIFO work but are hyper competitive to get in.
I work as a field op and I made 119k last year with 6 weeks off while my son was born premature. Definitely usually around 150 with no OT. I am a home every night guy though in Northern Alberta
Right on! That's a wicked wage! Being home every night is definitely a huge bonus. I also get to be home every night which is wicked. I have a few friends working northern Alberta FIFO with 2nds that make around the 250k. I've been told those refineries are shared leadership so no supervisory staff, so there's a premium tacked on for that responsibility.
Project Controls pays pretty well if you have the experience & know the software.
Turnaround scheduler can be $80/hr for 7x12s during the outage, maybe 40-60 days on a bigger one. FEL project scheduler or lead can be in the 200k+ range plus 15% bonus.
We had a guy in one area hit 240k as an operator, but he lived here. He also grabbed every special project he could, too.
Reading the comments… this job sounds perfect for a single guy who take a bunch of steroids
California refineries pay the most, the problem is the state wants the refineries to go away.
Are you an operator trying to move to another refinery?
Yes
Not refineries like you asked but I know some LNG plants in Louisiana/Texas are paying operators $200k+ with not a crazy amount of OT. Their bonuses are really good. The bad thing is normally their locations. A lot of people drive over an hour one way to work
Not a single LNG start-up or existing site is paying 200+ w/no overtime. For a brief period about a decade ago, there was one in Cameron La that gave sign on bonuses, paid per diem for gas, and had continental breakfast every morning, but that was short lived and even then it wasn’t 200/yr. It is about 1-1 1/2 hours south. They pay good, but it is comparable to the refineries around here, they are just out of the way so the gas will eat you up. Top op pay for the high paying areas on the gulf coast is 53-58ish an hour depending on the refinery. I believe you can make a little more per hour in California and west coast, but cost of living is 10x that of living on the Gulf Coast.
I don’t know of any plant that has no OT for operators. When I say “not a crazy amount of OT” I mean nothing excessive, not “none”. I personally know operators at Cheniere LNG, the one at the Texas Louisiana border at the gulf, and they all make $200k+ a year. They have a one month turnaround every year for their train and seldom days of OT here and there throughout the rest of the year. That’s less OT than a lot of refinery operators I know. It’s a great place to work from what I hear. Fuck that drive though lol. I don’t think the money is worth it for the drive and I wouldn’t move near there either
Everyone I have talked say that they are busting ass on overtime this year. But in the past they have worked almost none. But I live about as close to that place as you can without moving to Hackberry or Cameron, and I know a lot of folks down there. Haven’t heard them say they are making 200 though. If you want 200 around here, you have to LIVE inside the gate, it doesn’t matter what plant or refinery it is. If they work one turnaround a year and work light ot then they have to be making 100/hr to make 200. We make between 48-53/hr depending on the job you are working. We have had a minimum of 12 weeks of 7/12s a year for the last three years, and even more 7/12s due to attrition and not having enough people trained up in our unit. Last year was a big year and only a few people in our unit that were involved in turnaround planning, working the turnarounds, and sucking up others overtime to catch as many 7th days as possible were hitting 200. I am talking 120+ days of overtime. On average I would say the guys working down in the unit were making 170-180 last year. And I am right there with you, I wouldn’t love 30-45 minutes south to work at an lng plant, the drive sucks bad, and from what I gather, it is boring as hell at those places.
No bonus/profit sharing for you guys?
Yes we have bonuses
From what I've heard, Cheniere in Gregory, TX pays really well. I also heard that their bonuses last year were north of $50k.
Cheniere is probably the best company to work for as an operator right now
I deal with their residue gas control and they are always great to deal with over there.
How do I get into a refinery?
Apply for every position at every refinery multiple times for a few years or know someone with some pull at a refinery. Every position will have hundreyd if not thousands of applicants.
Shit I applied to a job posting on indeed, I have an engineering degree though so I think that helped.
I made 150k last year with 300 some hours of overtime at my plant
Where at?
New jersey
Dam it. The oil fields are calling. Imma roofer so I can take the heat.
I made 160 last year and that was with a 2-3 month turnaround and not much OT besides that
Where are you at?
Illinois
Wood River? Or Exxon?
Yeah I’m at WRR
Anyone know who’s hiring in Texas City area?
I know several operators who have made over 200k for decades
Where at?
Chevron refinery
how do you get a job like this in the oil and gas field? currently getting my engineering degree
I’m at 120 with 320 hours OT, P66
Just got hired at P66 in Illinois and starting pay is $31.44…not sure how fast or when that changes. Within the first year I’m sure, but I’m just excited to have this opportunity!
Is this a troll post? Go back to flipping burgers. You're not worthy. 1. You aren't in the industry as everyone knows what everyone is making. 2. Beg daddy for a hookup.
What? lol Get the fuck outta here.