Senior Drilling Fluid Specialist / Advisor

ELSA; Kuala Lumpur; On-site; MYR 360,000 - 540,000; Full time

Job summary

ELSA seeks a senior drilling-fluid leader to provide independent technical assurance across well-construction activities. You will oversee fluid systems, ensure quality, monitor performance metrics and optimize costs without compromising HSE and well integrity.

The role requires extensive offshore/drilling fluid experience, strong vendor management, and the ability to challenge contractor recommendations with solid technical justification.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Petroleum, Chemical, Mechanical Engineering or a related technical discipline.
• Typically 15–20 years oil and gas experience with 10–15 years in drilling-fluid engineering.
• Offshore or field drilling experience at Senior Engineer/Specialist/Technical Advisor level.

Responsibilities

• Review and assure drilling-fluid programs, operating envelopes, contractor proposals and major treatment changes.
• Monitor mud performance and trends including mud weight, rheology, fluid loss and solids.
• Define and review laboratory testing, QA/QC criteria for drilling-fluid systems and base fluids.
• Coordinate independent testing and ensure contract and supplier performance.
• Support technical bid evaluation, tender clarifications and contract renewals.

Skills

Technical leadership

QA/QC assurance

Drilling-fluid QA

Education

Bachelor's degree in Petroleum Engineering

Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering

Job description

1. Job Purpose

Provide senior technical leadership and independent assurance for drilling-fluid quality, performance, and cost effectiveness across well-construction activities. The role ensures drilling-fluid systems remain fit-for-purpose, contractors and suppliers meet technical and delivery obligations, and cost optimization does not compromise HSE, well integrity, mud quality, or operational reliability.

Work Location: Kuala Lumpur

Contract Duration: 1 year contract

1. Job Purpose

Provide senior technical leadership and independent assurance for drilling-fluid quality, performance, and cost effectiveness across well-construction activities. The role ensures drilling-fluid systems remain fit-for-purpose, contractors and suppliers meet technical and delivery obligations, and cost optimization does not compromise HSE, well integrity, mud quality, or operational reliability.

2. Key Accountabilities

2.1 Drilling Fluid Technical Assurance & Mud Quality

• Review and technically assure drilling-fluid programs, operating envelopes, contractor proposals, and significant treatment changes.
• Monitor mud performance and trends, including mud weight, rheology, fluid loss, inhibition, solids, lubricity, sag, contamination, and other system-specific properties.
• Ensure fluid systems remain suitable for formation conditions, hole cleaning, ECD, wellbore stability, losses, torque and drag, and completion/cementing interfaces.
• Identify deteriorating trends early, recommend corrective actions, and escalated material technical risks.
• Independently challenge contractor recommendations when technical justification is insufficient or product use appears excessive.
• Provide specialist support during fluid-related operational issues, including losses, instability, tight hole, pack-off, stuck-pipe risk, high ECD, contamination, and solids-control problems.

2.2 Product, Laboratory & QA/QC Assurance

• Define and review laboratory testing, qualification, and acceptance criteria for drilling-fluid systems, chemicals, and base fluids.
• Review Certificates of Analysis, batch consistency, and product substitutions; recommend rejection or quarantine of non-conforming materials.
• Coordinate independent testing or additional verification where required.

3. Contract Holder Responsibilities

3.1 Drilling Fluid Services

• Ensure compliance with the Scope of Work, technical requirements, personnel competency, product quality, laboratory support, equipment readiness, and service KPIs.
• Monitor contractor performance, document non-conformance, and require corrective actions.
• Review additional scope and technical justification, and support invoice verification from a technical/performance perspective.
• Support technical bid evaluation, tender clarification, contractor reviews, and contract renewal in coordination with Supply Chain.

3.2 Drilling Base Fluid Supply

• Define base-fluid specifications and QA/QC requirements and ensure supplied material meets approved standards.
• Monitor supplier quality, delivery performance, stock levels, demand forecasts, contingency stock, and supply risk. Coordinate with Operations, Logistics, and Supply Chain to minimize shortages, emergency freight, excess inventory, and obsolete stock.
• Review alternative or emergency suppliers and support supplier performance reviews and contract renewal.

4. Drilling Efficiency & Cost Optimization

Work with Drilling Engineering and Operations to improve drilling-fluid-related well performance whilemaintaining required quality and reliability.

• Optimize hole cleaning, ECD, wellbore stability, lubricity, torque and drag, tripping performance, conditioning time, loss prevention, and casing-running conditions.
• Optimize chemical and base-fluid consumption, dilution, mud losses, fluid recovery/reuse, solids-control efficiency, waste, inventory, product standardization, and logistics.
• Challenge both unnecessary cost reduction that increases technical risk and unnecessary product consumption that adds cost without measurable benefit.
• Use planned-versus-actual consumption, offset performance, NPT, and total well impact to guide optimization.

5. Contractor & Supplier Performance

Establish and monitor appropriate performance indicators for drilling-fluid contractors and base-fluid suppliers, including:

• Mud quality and fluid-related NPT.
• Product quality, technical response, personnel competency, and laboratory support.
• Chemical/base-fluid consumption and product availability.
• Supply reliability, on-time delivery, inventory performance, and total delivered cost.
• Closure of recurring performance issues and corrective actions.

6. Qualifications & Experience

6.1 Education

• Bachelor's degree in Petroleum Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemistry / Applied Chemistry, or a relevant technical discipline.

6.2 Experience

• Typically 15 - 20 years of oil and gas experience, including 10 - 15 years of direct drilling-fluid engineering experience.
• Significant offshore or field drilling experience and experience at Senior Engineer, Specialist, or Technical Advisor level.
• Experience with drilling-fluid QA/QC, operational troubleshooting, contractor/supplier performance, and cost optimization.
• Experience as Contract Holder, in technical bid evaluation, or in operator-side technical assurance is beneficial.
• Gulf of Thailand experience with slimhole, monobore, and/or tubingless development wells is highly beneficial.