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Working as a Leasehand

With experience in finance, accounting, and consulting in the oil and gas industry, Raylene Whitford runs Løvinne Energy, a boutique consultancy firm in the energy industry. A few years ago, she took a sabbatical as a consultant with BP in order to work on a rig in Northern Alberta. As the only female on the small crew, Raylene Whitford wrote a blog about her experiences called "Lessons for a Leasehand" (https://lessonsforaleasehand.wordpress.com) Leasehand is an entry-level manual labor position on an oil rig. It can be very physically demanding, the weather is often well below freezing, and shifts can last 12 hours. Leasehands set up and take down equipment, clean equipment, load, unload, dig ditches, and sometimes drive trucks. Generally, leasehands will work for 14 days, often sleeping at a camp near the rig, and then get a week off before going back for another 14 day “hitch.” It’s rare for women to work in the oil and drilling field on rigs. This could be changing, however, as the drilling industry is growing, especially in Alberta. The work is hard, but it pays well and requires little formal training, which may make it an appealing position for a wider range of people.

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Canative Energy for Aboriginal Communities

With an MBA in oil and gas management from Robert Gordon University and a background as an accountant and as a leasehand on a rig in northern Alberta, Raylene Whitford now runs a bespoke consultancy firm called Løvinne Energy. Raylene Whitford, winner of the 2012 British Accountancy Award called New Accountant of the Year, has also founded a project on renewable energy for Aboriginal Canadians called Canative Energy. Canative aims to help Aboriginal communities and families to become energy independent through proven alternative strategies that are sustainable alternatives to current energy use. The project will also help Aboriginal communities by training people to work in the growing renewable energy sector. Solar energy is an excellent alternative fuel source that can work well for remote communities that may currently be dependent on diesel fuel and the national grid. Canative works with its communities on all stages of setting up solar energy panels including manufacture and installation, which means households gain control over their own energy use. Solar energy panels tend to be both low cost and low maintenance, which makes this technology an ideal alternative for communities to learn to set it up and use it themselves sustainably into the future.