Oil & gas employers 'should look to recruit from other industries'

London – Companies in the oil & gas industry will have to take on many extra staff in 2012 to meet the many new project commitments in the sector, recruitment firm NES Global Talent expects

“During the recession, lots of projects didn’t make it past the financial investment decision stage, but many were sanctioned in 2011. As a result of this we can expect an increase in demand for construction and commissioning roles,” said Simon Coton, managing director of the recruitment firm.

The increased demand from so many new projects means the pressure is now on to tackle the depletion of the skills base in the oil & gas sector, continued Coton, who suggests that oil and gas companies will need to seriously consider retraining people from heavy industries.

“Structural engineers and electrical engineers from, say, the shipbuilding or infrastructure industries can be retrained to work in oil and gas because they use a lot of the same skills,” said the NES boss.

The problem is not unique to the UK; the US and Australia are also concerned about its oil and gas labour force given expansion within the industry and the retirement of skilled, experienced workers.

NES has noted particular skills demand in deepwater subsea engineering in Brazil and West Africa and HSE in the Gulf of Mexico - and in fact, worldwide - as well as LNG specialists in Australasia.