What We Do

In a nutshell, the Chaplaincy ministers to its parish and parishioners.

The parish is Britain's oil and gas industry both offshore and onshore. The parishioners are those who work in it - including those who are sent abroad on duty - their families, their friends and their workmates

We help individuals who come to our office. To us, all people are equally important and welcome, regardless of their position.

We help groups and individuals in their workplaces. This involves visiting company premises, both offshore and onshore, to meet people and talk about their concerns. The Chaplain has an annual programme of visits to offshore installations each of which usually lasts 24 or 48 hours. Visits are always announced in advance and anyone can approach the Chaplain at any time.

We help people by telephone. We receive calls from oil industry people all over the UK, and from overseas. In these conversations we give comfort and guidance, counselling and encouragement, sympathy and understanding.

The Chaplaincy will always provide a listening ear and will never turn you away.

Our Main Services
Material Support To Those In Great Need
Pastoral Outreach
Raising Awareness
Annual Services

Our Main Services

• Providing a religious focal point for the oil and gas industry.
• In an emergency, providing the first point of contact for pastoral support or referrals to other religious organisations.
• Advising on religious protocol or on delicate service arrangements.
• Arranging and conducting appropriate religious services or other ceremonies for significant events such as marriages, baptisms, funerals or memorial services.
• In times of tragedy or trauma, providing short, specially designed memorial services which incorporate bereavement counselling.
• Counselling Sessions can also be provided for individuals or groups.

In all of this, the denominational affiliations and beliefs of all will be respected.

No matter who you are, no matter what your belief, we will never turn you away.

Back to Services List

Material Support To Those In Great Need

Another Trust called the Oil Chaplaincy Trust Limited exists to help those in great need. Often, these are people in the industry, or their immediate families, who through illness or injury will never be able to work again. Their requests for help make very sad reading.

The Chaplaincy administers the Trust with the help of another five Trustees who come from within the industry and from some religious denominations. This Trust is legally constituted and its transactions are audited annually.

Applications for financial assistance are considered carefully by the Trustees and awards are made on as generous a basis as possible.

This valuable work is made possible by the generosity of welfare committees on offshore installations and by individual and company donations. The Trustees could not provide this valuable service without the benefit of their generosity.

An appeal for support for the continuing work of the Trust is made during the last quarter of each year and the Trustees are truly grateful for the ready response of all in the industry.

Back to Services List

Pastoral Outreach

This is a key part of the Chaplaincy's work. We believe that this Ministry must be visible and must meet its parishioners in their places of work. Contacts both onshore and offshore can often lead to chats about personal, social or work-related issues, which might be sources of anxiety for people.

Back to Services List

Raising Awareness

We often give talks to a wide variety of organisations throughout the country about the important and unique nature of our work. This is when we explain the unique role of the Chaplaincy, the special area in which it operates, the tasks and challenges facing the Industry, as well as the importance to the nation of the industry and the people in it. The Chaplain also makes himself available to conduct worship in churches around the country.

Back to Services List

Annual Services

While ad hoc services can always be arranged for any specific situation, two very special events occur each year in St John's, the Oil Industry Chapel in the Kirk of St Nicholas, in Union Street, Aberdeen.

One is the Annual Service of Remembrance for all those who have worked in the oil and gas industries and have passed on. In 2008 this service will be held on Friday 31 October at 12.30 pm. The preacher will be the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Rt Rev David Lunan.

Similarly, the Service of Lessons and Carols for 2008 will be held on Wednesday 17 December at 12.30 pm.

Naturally, all are welcome at these services.

Some years a Christmas video has been produced for the use of platforms and rigs offshore and for other oil and gas industry locations throughout the world.

Back to Services List