85111 Oil and gas drilling, servicing and related labourers

What this occupation covers

Oil and gas drilling, servicing and related labourers carry out a variety of general labouring duties and operate equipment to assist in the drilling and servicing of oil and gas wells. This unit group also includes labourers who assist in geophysical prospecting for oil and gas. They are employed by drilling and well servicing contractors and by petroleum producing companies.

Official main duties

The NOC profile lists 6 main duties for this code.

• Manipulate sections of pipe or drill stem at the rig floor during drilling and during the removal and replacement of strings of pipe or drill stem and drill bit
• Maintain drilling equipment on the drill floor
• Handle, sort and move drill tools, pipe, cement and other materials
• Clean up rig areas
• Assist in setting up, taking down and transporting drilling and service rigs and service equipment
• May drive trucks to transport materials and well service equipment.

Do not copy these lines into your reference letter. The letter has to describe what you actually did, in your employer’s words. DUTYPROOF flags wording lifted from the NOC as something to review, and an officer reading a letter that mirrors the NOC reads it the same way.

What DUTYPROOF screens for

This is DUTYPROOF’s screening threshold, not IRCC’s decision. For this NOC, screening requires at least 2 of its 6 official duties to be evidenced in your own words, plus the required letter elements. IRCC asks that you performed the actions in the occupation’s lead statement and a substantial number of its main duties — so treat the duty coverage as the number that matters, not the badge.

Codes this one is confused with

The NOC profile names these itself. Choosing the wrong code of a look-alike pair is the most common way genuine work experience fails to establish eligibility.

• 83101 Oil and gas well drillers, servicers, testers and related workers
• 84101 Oil and gas well drilling and related workers and services operators

Excluded from this code

• Oil and gas well drillers, servicers, testers and related workers (See 83101 Oil and gas well drillers, servicers, testers and related workers)
• Oil and gas well drilling and related workers and services operators (See 84101 Oil and gas well drilling and related workers and services operators)

Job titles filed under this code

A title on this list does not by itself put your experience in this code — the duties in your letter decide that.

floorhand - offshore drilling rig · floorhand - oil and gas drilling · floorhand - service rig · floorman/woman - offshore drilling rig · floorman/woman - oil and gas drilling · gravity prospecting observer helper · leasehand · leasehand - oil and gas drilling · observer helper - gravity prospecting · observer helper - seismic prospecting · oil field labourer · oil well cementer helper · perforator helper - oil field services · perforator loader helper - oil field services · reeled tubing helper - oil field services · roughneck · roughneck - offshore drilling rig · roughneck - oil and gas drilling · roustabout · roustabout - offshore drilling rig · roustabout - oil and gas drilling · seismic GPS rover · seismic line cutter · seismic prospecting observer helper

Employment requirements

• Completion of secondary school may be required.
• Completion of introductory college or petroleum industry-approved training courses may be required.
• Certificates in hydrogen sulphide awareness, workplace hazardous materials information system (WHMIS) or transportation of dangerous goods (TDG) may be required.