Bourbon, International leader in marine services for modern offshore

Tell us about your career path.
I graduated from the Marseille Merchant Navy school in 1998. I sailed for a few years as an officer before joining Technip. That’s where I learned about the offshore sector. From 2002 to 2006 I worked as an on-board Shift Supervisor in the fleet that is involved in oil field construction. I spent 7 months a year at sea, no longer as an officer but as part of a project team onboard the vessels. During my watch, my role involved coordinating the activity of the different modules involved in the work. I looked for a shore-based job and I joined Bourbon Offshore Gaïa in Marseilles as project engineer.

What does the job of project engineer consist of?
Bourbon Offshore Gaia manages the engineering for IMR (Inspection Maintenance Repair) projects that involve working deep underwater on oil and gas fields in operation – installing and replacing rigid or flexible jumpers or Christmas trees (pipes and modules connected to the well heads to collect and distribute the oil), flying leads (connection cables) or subsea control modules (brain of the well head), etc… This kind of work in deepwater is carried out by subsea robots (ROV). But before that, all the equipment has to be loaded onto the vessel, lifted with a crane and positioned on the seabed. Conversely, you have to recover any equipment to be replaced from the sea bed. The project engineer enters the picture upstream of that construction phase. He or she studies the rigging to be used on the lifting equipment and designs with precision the procedures to be applied for handling the items, placing them in the water and laying them on the sea bed. The project engineer also organizes the logistics so that nothing is missing when the right time comes. Being familiar with the task at hand and the vessel, I decide what equipment to use and how to go about using it. If necessary, my job can include the design of special equipment.

What are the demands and the interest of this job for you?
You have to be very detail-oriented and organized. You have to be able to anticipate and foresee the slightest details. These operations involve handling very costly equipment; they are performed at sea in extremely remote areas, far away from everything. The slightest item forgotten or the slightest design flaw can cause considerable time to be wasted and can prove costly. Although I’m not an engineer, my merchant navy training and experience in the field are very useful in this instance. The job responsibilities are very broad and involve a wide variety of activities. In fact, you have to learn about the characteristics of the vessel, the lifting equipment, the handling equipment, the ROVs, not to mention logistics and managing the personnel assigned to the facility. I am in touch with a wide variety of people within BOURBON — seamen, technical departments, marketing, subsidiaries taking out the contracts or operating the vessels, as well as clients in France and abroad. Although I spend most of my time in an office, I have the satisfaction of working in a marine environment and of measuring the job I do by travelling at times to see the projects.

How do you see your future?
Subsea Services is a new BOURBON activity. With the acquisition of DNT Offshore, its activity goes beyond engineering to include subsea work. Beyond maintenance, it is focusing on oil field development. So at the age of 34, I think BOURBON has a lot of interesting prospects to offer me, and I hope to grow further in this job.

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