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Engineering Technician (Petroleum)

Department of the Interior
Bureau of Land Management
This job announcement has closed

Summary

These positions are located in the Pecos District, in the Carlsbad Field Office and the, Hobbs Field Station.

This position is concurrently open to all U.S. Citizens under Announcement Number BLM-NM-23-11975836-DE-FRB.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
05/25/2023 to 06/08/2023
Salary
$43,682 to - $77,907 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 5 - 8
Locations
Many vacancies in the following locations:
Carlsbad, NM
Hobbs, NM
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
25% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
Yes—You may qualify for reimbursement of relocation expenses in accordance with agency policy.
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
11
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
BLM-NM-23-11975835-MP-FRB
Control number
727406600

Duties

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The primary purpose of this developmental position is to work in the supervision/regulation of oil and gas operations under the lease management program on Federal and Indian lands. You will conduct inspections of oil and gas leases to enforce appropriate laws, rules, and regulations as well as the terms and conditions specified in various approvals.

  • Witness casing integrity tests to ensure compliance.
  • Verify the accuracy of site security diagrams to ensure appropriate valves are effectively sealed.
  • Inspect plugging and abandonment operations to ensure compliance.
  • Prepare reports on inspections, witnessing, and/or compliance.
  • Use computer applications for documentation and written communications.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • U.S. Citizenship required
  • May be required to complete background investigation and drug screening.
  • Meet Selective Service Registration Act requirement for males
  • Must provide resume and supporting documents (See required documents).
  • You cannot hold an active real estate license, nor can you have an interest or hold stocks in firms with interest in Federal Lands.
  • You must be able to operate a 4-wheel drive vehicle to conduct inspections.
  • You must possess or be able to obtain (after EOD) an Engineering Technician (Petroleum) (PET) certification.
  • A Financial Statement is required. You will also be required to complete a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report, OGE-450 on an annual basis.
  • Selectee will be required to participate in the Direct Deposit Electronics Funds Transfer Program.
  • If you are a new employee in the Federal government, you will be required to complete a one-year probationary period.
  • You will be required to obtain and maintain a valid state driver's license.
  • You may be required to travel overnight away from home up to 10 nights per month. You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes.

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the education and/or experience requirements described below. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience. If qualifying based on education, a copy of your unofficial transcripts must be provided with your application.


MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
To be considered minimally qualified for this position, you must demonstrate that you have the required specialized experience and/or education for the respective grade level in which you are applying:

GS-05:
Specialized Experience: Applicants must have one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-04 grade level in the Federal service (obtained either in the private or public sectors) performing the following: (1) assisting with inspecting well production equipment; (2) assisting with making on-site inspections for such items as well signs, spills or leaks, valves and pipelines; (3) assisting with follow-up investigation to determine compliance with Incidents of Noncompliance; (4) checking to see that general safety practices for conditions which affect public safety and resource recovery are acceptable. Note: Your resume must indicate how you meet this requirement, otherwise you may be found ineligible.
OR
Education:
Successful completion of full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree (a) with major study in an appropriate field of engineering, construction, or industrial technology; or (b) that included at least 24 semester hours in any combination of courses such as engineering or industrial technology, construction, physics, drafting, surveying, physical science, or mathematics. NOTE: You must submit copies of your college transcripts.
OR
Combination of Education/Experience: Have an equivalent combination of specialized experience and graduate level education described above. To calculate the percentage, first compute the amount of specialized experience as a percentage of the requirement listed above; then determine the amount of your education as a percentage of the requirement listed above (in excess of the first 60 semester hours); then add the two percentages. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to meet this requirement. Note: You must submit copies of your college transcripts.

GS-06:
Specialized Experience: Applicants must have one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-05 grade level in the Federal service (obtained either in the private or public sectors) performing the following: (1) performing on-site inspections of most phases of oil and gas drilling/work-over operations and associated facilities; (2) performing safety inspections to determine that general maintenance of the drilling operation is conducted according to existing industry standards; (3) inspecting routine surface casing and cementing operations; (4) investigating minor undesirable events such as spills.
OR
Education: Successful completion of 1 full year (18 semester hours) of graduate level education leading to a Master's degree or a Master's degree in engineering, construction, or industrial technology. NOTE: You must submit copies of your college transcripts.

GS-07:
Specialized Experience: Applicants must have one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-06 grade level in the Federal service (obtained either in the private or public sectors) performing the following(1) utilizing equipment used by the petroleum industry in the onshore exploration and development of oil and gas resources; (2) performing a variety of standardized inspections of drilling operation; (3) completing drilling procedures, cementing, plugging and abandonment procedures; (4) identifying and analyzing recurring anomalous production from leases with multiple wells and/or facilities, or which have measurement streams combining production from several leases. Note: Your resume must indicate how you meet this requirement, otherwise you may be found ineligible.
OR
Education: Successful completion of 1 full year (18 semester hours) of graduate level education leading to a Master's degree or a Master's degree in engineering, construction, or industrial technology. NOTE: You must submit copies of your college transcripts.

GS-08:
Specialized Experience: Applicants must have one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-07 grade level in the Federal service (obtained either in the private or public sectors) performing the following:(1) conducting multi-faceted and responsible petroleum engineering technician work involving all aspects of drilling, production inspection, and enforcement activities; (2) inspecting undesirable events including documenting causes, recommending remedial actions to be taken, and volume loss; (3) inspecting/witnessing plugging and abandonment operations; (4) preparing reports and making appropriate recommendations based on inspection findings. Note: Your resume must indicate how you meet this requirement, otherwise you may be found ineligible.

TIME-IN-GRADE REQUIREMENTS: Merit promotion applicants must meet applicable time-in-grade requirements to be considered eligible.

GS-05: Candidates may be advanced without time restriction to positions up to GS-5 if the position to be filled is no more than two grades above the lowest grade the employee held within the preceding 52 weeks under his or her latest nontemporary competitive appointment.

One year at the GS-05 is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the GS-06 level.
One year at the GS-06 is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the GS-07 level.
One year at the GS-07 is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the GS-08 level.
(Must submit your SF-50s that shows Time-in-Grade eligibility and reflects your title, series, and grade. No award SF-50 will be accepted).

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s).

Volunteer Experience: Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

You must include months, years and hours per week worked to receive credit for your work and/or volunteer experience. One year of specialized experience is equivalent to 12 months at 40 hours per week. Part-time hours are prorated. You will not receive any credit for experience that does not indicate exact hours per week or is listed as "varies".

Any individual who is currently holding, or has held within the previous 52 weeks, a General Schedule position under non-temporary appointment in the competitive or excepted service, must meet time-in-grade requirements (must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent in the Federal service). Time-in-grade requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

Education

To qualify based on education, you must submit a legible copy of transcripts from an accredited institution with your name, school name, credit hours, course level, major(s), and grade-point average or class ranking. Transcripts do not need to be official, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work.

If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet qualification requirements, you must show that your education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university.

GRADUATE EDUCATION: One academic year of graduate education is considered to be the number of credits hours your graduate school has determined to represent one academic year of full-time study. Such study may have been performed on a full-time or part-time basis. If you cannot obtain your graduate school's definition of one year of graduate study, 18 semester hours (or 27 quarter hours) should be considered as satisfying the requirement for one year of full-time graduate study.

There is no substitution of education for experience at the GS-08 grade level(s) of this announcement.

Additional information

Promotion to the full performance level is neither guaranteed nor implied and will be based solely on your ability to satisfactorily perform the work of the position, existing work at the higher grade level, and recommendation by the position's supervisor.

Physical Demands:
The work of this position requires on-site inspection work that requires almost continuous physical activity. Most of the on-site inspection time is spent walking, standing, crouching, and climbing. In climbing up and down ladders and steep stairways, the Engineering Technician (Petroleum) (PET) is protected from falls only by firmly grasping on ladder rungs and hand railings. The PET may be required to hike into unusually rugged areas to inspect abandoned sites. PETs are subject to call 24 hours a day and may be required to work long non-stop tours-of-duty, occasionally in excess of thirty (30) hours. Some work is sedentary, although much of the job requires overnight field trips which involve physical activity on irregular terrains and work at physically demanding job sites. Office work consists predominantly of working at a desk and using a computer, including using a palm pilot to record measurements.

Working Conditions:
The work of this position is at field locations where it is necessary to wear appropriate safety equipment. You must walk under and around heavy derrick and hoisting equipment and piping and around other potentially hazardous operating equipment. The work environment involves exposure to extreme weather conditions, hostile flora and fauna, hazardous explosive fumes, poisonous gasses, toxic chemicals, high frequency noises, high-pressure and high temperature equipment, detonating devices, and moving machinery. Work involves climbing up and down ladders and steep stairways. A large part of the time is spent driving to work sites that are located in isolated areas. The work environment requires the use of hard hats, hard-toe boots, safety glasses, ear protection equipment, poisonous gas detection equipment, and cold weather gear and/or a respirator may also be required. The position also requires operating a motor vehicle, often in isolated areas, on unimproved roads and in potentially dangerous weather conditions.

The Bureau of Land Management has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval.

BLM may use certain incentives, currently offered by the Federal government, to attract high quality applicants.

Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) or Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP): For information on how to apply as an ICTAP or CTAP eligible see http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/ctap_guideline.pdf. To be well-qualified and exercise selection priority for this vacancy, displaced Federal employees must be rated at 90 or above on the rating criteria for this position.

If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

A review of your resume and supporting documentation will be made and compared against your responses to the Occupational Questionnaire to determine if you are qualified for this job. If your resume is incomplete or does not support the responses provided in the Occupational Questionnaire, or if you fail to submit all required documentation, you will be rated 'ineligible', 'not qualified', or your score may be adjusted accordingly. If a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications or experience, you may lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully; errors or omissions may affect your rating.

You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), the responses you provide on the application questionnaire, and the result of the additional assessments required for this position.

In order to be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and application questionnaire, this position requires successful completion of additional assessments, including a subject matter expert (SME) resume review. These assessments measure the critical competencies listed below that are required to successfully perform the job.

Candidates who apply under Competitive Merit Promotion procedures will undergo a quality review to determine if they are highly qualified based on the content of their resume and their responses to the questionnaire. Best qualified candidates will be referred if all required supporting documentation has been provided.

Candidates who apply under Noncompetitive Merit Promotion procedures will undergo a quality review to determine if they are minimally qualified based on the content of their resume and their responses to the questionnaire. Qualified candidates will be referred if all required supporting documentation has been provided.

You will be evaluated on the following competencies:

  • Compliance Inspection
  • Technical Competence
  • Technical Documentation


Performance Appraisals: In the evaluation process, due weight will be given to job related experience, education, training, incentive awards and performance appraisals. Applicants must have a performance rating of at least the equivalent of fully successful to be eligible for promotion or placement. Applicants may provide a copy of a performance appraisal of record dated within the last 18 months. If the applicant is unable to provide a performance appraisal of record dated within the last 18 months, the applicant may provide a written explanation as to why.

Recruitment incentive awards: Applicants that have received recruitment incentive awards during the last two years, must list them on their resume.

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