OPITO commissions major survey on North Sea labour market
4 Sep 2017
Robert Gordon University’s Oil and Gas Institute will carry out a major analysis of the UK Continental Shelf labour market’s likely requirements for the next 20 years.
The institute has been commissioned by the sector standards organisation OPITO to provide intelligence that will enable it to identify the skills requirements for the industry.
OPITO chief executive and Energy Jobs Taskforce member John McDonald said: “My discussions with industry stakeholders and within the Energy Jobs Taskforce identified a clear need for a project which would help us to define a skills strategy for oil and gas.
“The industry has undergone a number of significant changes over the past few years. These changes include the increased use of new technology and data driven processes in order to keep the sector viable in these challenging times.”
The project is aimed at helping the industry to successfully develop a skilled, well-trained workforce
Paul de Leeuw, director, RGU Oil & Gas Institute
He added that the project would also consider the implications of lower commodity prices, increase in decommissioning activity and the application of new technology – all of which could impact the period up to 2035.
Statistics produced by Oil & Gas UK reveal that in 2016 more than 330,000 jobs supported UKCS production with 186,000 doing so directly.
Director of the RGU Oil and Gas Institute, Professor Paul de Leeuw, said: “The project is aimed at helping the industry to successfully develop a skilled, well-trained workforce to meet the needs of the next generation of activity in the UKCS.”
