The oil and gas industry is a rough, tough business, especially for those based on offshore rigs battered by the North Sea and dependent on helicopters for transport. Attracting women to take on frontine jobs can be a challenge.

But those who do break into the world of engineering within the energy sector report immense satisfaction from working on the edge of new technologies, in an area that is vitally important to the nation’s wellbeing.

Women are still under represented, mainly because very few take degrees in key subjects such as engineering, science or technology. Once in the energy industry, engineering staff must be prepared to work long hours, travel the world and demonstrate intellectual ingenuity and flexibility.

Ros Wall, assistant director of the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology, says: “The oil and gas industry is one of the most highly gendersegregated employment sectors. Some oil and gas companies have made great strides to make the industry more open to women but, in the production sector, there are very few women working at technical levels.”

Alexandra Jack, 26, joined Schlumberger, among the world’s leading oilfield services companies, two years ago and is now a field engineer in the drilling and measuring sector.

She says: “I took a masters degree in aeronautical engineering at the University of Glasgow and had an office-based job before moving to Schlumberger. Now, I spend a lot of time on rigs, particularly in the Magnus field in the northern North Sea, reached by flying out from Shetland. On the smaller rigs you get to know everyone. On the bigger ones, where there are up to 200 people, it is harder, although everyone is friendly.”

Life on a rig is challenging because safety precautions are at the forefront. Jack can relax in her accommodation but, in the body of the rig, she, like everyone else, must wear full protective clothing, with boots, hard hat, gloves and goggles.

She says: “Women engineers are in a minority although Schlumberger actively recruits women.”

Jack believes that she could rise to the top like Capella Festa, vice-president of information technology, who has spent 16 years with Schlumberger, travelled the globe on assignments, worked on oil rigs and managed the building of a new base for oilfield operations in Indonesia and key segments of the business in Aberdeen. Festa says: “Schlumberger provides a genuine meritocracy and that makes for a dynamic environment that is also highly supportive.”

For some time npower has promoted opportunities for women, to attract more to study science, technology and engineering. Fourteen women are among employees who also act as science and engineering “ambassadors”.

Fiona Auty, 33, a mechanical engineer, joined the company’s power station development team as a project engineer working at Tilbury and Blyth on cleaner coal projects and after six months was entrusted with the selection of the architect engineer partner for these coal stations — a contract worth more than £2 billion.

“I did a masters degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Nottingham and, before moving to npower, I spent time working on coal and gas development and marine energy,” Auty says. “I do a lot of assessments on site or supervising consultants, so I spend some of my time in a hard hat. I chose to focus on projects rather than being a specialist because you do something different every day.”

Her career at npower has been fast tracked and she was encouraged to take the Chartered Management Institute diploma in management. She is also involved in npower’s Activate management development programme and its international programme for those with senior executive potential.