Life as an Oil and Gas Consultant

What Does an Oil and Gas Consultant Do?

An oil and gas engineer is responsible for designing, developing, operating and maintaining systems that are used to extract, process and transport oil and natural gas.

There are a number of specialist roles (e.g., pipeline engineer, subsea engineer, project engineer), all of which involve working in different environments, from offshore platforms to drilling rigs.

Here are examples of the typical day-to-day responsibilities of an oil and gas engineer:

• Designing and improving oil and gas production systems.
• Managing budgets, schedules and possible project risks.
• Ensuring compliance with health, safety and environmental regulations.
• Carrying out reports into ways to improve efficiency, reduce costs and minimise environmental impacts.

What Skills and Qualifications Do Oil and Gas Consultants Need?

• A degree in engineering, such as mechanical, chemical, petroleum or civil engineering.
• Industry standards and regulations knowledge.
• Analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Project management and communication skills.
• Health, safety and environmental knowledge.

As an oil and gas consultant, you’ll also find that clients will expect you to hold specific certificates and qualifications, such as Chartered Engineer status, NEBOSH or OPITO training.

Oil and Gas Consultants and Renewable Energy Projects

Data from the Office for National Statistics found that turnover of the UK’s low carbon and renewable energy economy (LCREE) was an estimated £77 billion in 2024.

Opportunities are being created for oil and gas engineers specialising in these areas, such as renewable energy or hydrogen FEED consultants.

And many experienced engineers are now taking their traditional expertise and applying it to renewable energy projects.

This corresponds with recent research commissioned by Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), which found that as many as 90% of oil and gas industry workers have skills that are transferable to sectors including offshore wind, carbon capture and hydrogen production.

Why Do Oil and Gas Engineers Choose the Limited Company Route?

There are many reasons why experienced oil and gas engineers will choose to transition from permanent employment into consultancy:

• The financial rewards.
• Being able to have more control over your career.
• Increased flexibility.
• The opportunity to work across multiple projects to gain further skills and experience as you go along.

And while there are a few different contracting options, the limited company route is a popular choice, mainly due to the added benefits compared to working as a sole trader or through an umbrella company.

Running your own limited company does indeed come with more responsibility, such as additional admin and record-keeping; however, there are more pros than cons.

For example:

• It’s more tax efficient – there’s the opportunity to combine a lower salary with dividends to maximise your tax home pay.
• You’re able to claim on a much wider range of expenses.
• You have limited liability. By setting up a limited company, you create a separate legal entity from yourself so that any responsibility and risk under a contract belong solely to the limited company, protecting your personal assets.
• A limited company is often seen as having greater credibility, which can make it easier to secure contracts.

If you’re looking to set up your own engineering consultant limited company, then take a look at our Become a Client page, which also includes a breakdown of our fixed fee package.

We hope you found this page helpful. If you have any further questions, our team of experts are available to answer any queries, so give us a call on 01442 795 100 or email jaime.thorpe@dolanaccountancy.com. Alternatively, contact us via live chat.