Laboratory Technician (Upstream Oil & Gas Waste Management)

WTS Energy, headquartered in the Netherlands and established in 2000, is one of the leading Outsourcing & Workforce Management Companies to the Global Energy industry. WTS Supplies Manpower, Recruitment, Outsourcing Services in Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas. WTS Energy works on all Energy projects, Oil & Gas and Renewables. We h…

Laboratory Technician (Upstream Oil & Gas Waste Management)

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct physical and chemical characterization of incoming, in-process, and treated oil and gas drilling waste streams.

• Perform laboratory analysis of drill cuttings, water-based and oil-based drilling muds, oily sludge, contaminated soil, wastewater, leachate, sediment, and recovered treatment products.

• Conduct analyses including total petroleum hydrocarbons, oil and grease, moisture, pH, conductivity, salinity, chlorides, metals, solids, density, and other approved drilling-waste parameters.

• Perform analytical procedures in accordance with approved methods, facility procedures, client specifications, and applicable regulatory standards.

• Collect representative samples from incoming waste loads, storage areas, treatment units, wastewater systems, treated residues, and final disposal or reuse batches.

• Preserve, label, transport, and document samples in accordance with approved sampling plans and laboratory procedures.

• Maintain complete chain-of-custody records and ensure full traceability of samples to the originating waste stream, client, and treatment batch.

• Operate, calibrate, and maintain laboratory instruments and sample-preparation equipment used for drilling-waste and environmental analysis.

• Operate equipment including analytical and top-loading balances, drying ovens, muffle furnaces, centrifuges, pH meters, conductivity/TDS meters, turbidity meters, retort kits, filtration equipment, digestion systems, TCLP leachate preparation equipment, and rotary tumblers.

• Operate advanced analytical equipment where available, including UV-Visible Spectrophotometers, AAS, ICP-MS, GC-MS, GC-FID, Ion Chromatographs, and ion-selective electrode systems.

• Conduct routine instrument checks, troubleshooting, preventive maintenance, performance verification, and coordinate servicing and repairs where required.

• Monitor and maintain adequate stocks of reagents, standards, reference materials, and laboratory consumables.

• Record, review, validate, and analyse laboratory data accurately and prepare laboratory reports and certificates of analysis.

• Maintain laboratory registers, databases, calibration records, chain-of-custody documentation, sample-retention records, and other required technical records.

• Interpret analytical results and support preparation of compliance reports for management, clients, and regulatory authorities.

• Ensure laboratory data accuracy, integrity, confidentiality, and full traceability throughout the testing and reporting process.

• Implement laboratory quality-control requirements including blanks, duplicates, spikes, standards, control charts, and instrument-verification checks.

• Review analytical results against waste-acceptance criteria, treatment targets, client specifications, and applicable discharge, disposal, or reuse limits.

• Immediately escalate non-conforming results, unusual contamination profiles, and potential process or environmental risks to the Technical and Operations Lead.

• Support laboratory audits, facility inspections, regulatory reporting, and continuous improvement of laboratory testing and treatment-control procedures.

• Maintain a clean, orderly, and safe laboratory and field-sampling work environment.