Platform protection

All process industries currently face a shortage of skilled staff. The skills shortage is becoming particularly acute in the UK oil and gas sector, which is experiencing a renaissance in activity and investment – particularly in the North Sea.

Research released last month from the Bank of Scotland suggests that investment in the oil and gas industry in 2014 could peak at around £18.5 billion.

Meanwhile, the survey also indicates that as many as 39,000 jobs could be created by the UK oil and gas sector in this year alone.

However, nearly 40% of respondents pointed to the skills shortage as the biggest challenge facing the industry, with figures likely to increase further before they begin to fall.

The opportunities globally are very large. Engineers do enjoy the so-called ‘sexy’ projects and things that are challenging

Dr Alix Thom

“The report highlights the growing challenges posed by the lack of a skilled workforce,” says Bank of Scotland commercial area director Stuart White.

A recent survey conducted by offshore technology advisor DNV GL found that of more than 400 industry representatives surveyed, 49% cite the skills shortage in Europe as the main barrier to growth in 2014, and 38% consider ‘project managers’ as the scarcest skill.

According to industry experts, one of the key drivers affecting the skills shortage is the cyclical nature of the industry.

“The oil and gas sector has gone through periods where oil prices have dropped and companies have had to cut back and perhaps not trained as many people as they would have liked to,” says Dr Alix Thom, employment and skills issues manager for industry trade body Oil & Gas UK.

“But also, a number of people have left the industry and have not returned,” she adds.

Both these factors have left the industry with a limited number of highly skilled employees, whose talents are now, more than ever, being internationally coveted.

“I think the biggest factor in the last few years is just the global competition for the skills that are out there,” says Thom.

“The UK industry is technically very challenging and it’s a very mature province and there are people that have very much ‘earned their spurs’. The expertise and the technology that has developed here is now highly prized in other oil and gas provinces.”

For Thom, the global demand for skills from countries such as Singapore, Australia and Brazil, is of greater concern than competition in the domestic space.

“All those who have industries that are growing rapidly want to bring in expertise to get the industry up and running and to develop their own workforces,” she says.

“The opportunities globally are very large.”

Part of the attraction, which is more than just a matter of money, is the lifestyle afforded to those engineers who choose to work abroad.

“People make these decisions based on the type of work they will be doing. I have found in my experience of working with engineers, they do enjoy the so-called ‘sexy’ projects and things that are challenging,” Thom says.

“You often find that once people have a good grounding in the North Sea, then they are very marketable and are probably at the right age to go abroad.”

The knowledge that can be accumulated in the North Sea is regarded by many as the best in the world, which is why the exporting of such skills is to be expected – but experts are also quick to urge the significance of retaining such expertise for the benefit of the UK industry.

“What is important is to ensure the expertise is not lost and there is a suitable pipeline of talent coming through for the future,” says Morven Spalding, skills development director for the sector skills body Offshore Petroleum Industry Organisation (OPITO).

In an effort to bring through the necessary number of people to fill the expanding number of positions, industry experts are pointing towards talent sharing and inter-industry collaboration as a means of bridging the skills gap.

“Experienced engineers and technicians are constantly in demand, so the oil and gas industry has for some time been looking towards other sectors with transferable skills,” Spalding says.

“OPITO has been working closely with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP), the Ministry of Defence’s official provider of Armed Forces Resettlement, to raise awareness of the long-term career opportunities the oil and gas industry offers those leaving the Forces. The Oil and Gas Industry Awareness programme pro-actively targets soon-to-be ex-servicemen and women, providing them with an overview of the oil and gas sector as well as detailing job roles which could already match their existing experience and skills.”

According to Spalding, the programme’s aim is to address the oil and gas industry’s critical need to recruit skilled engineers and technicians for both on and offshore positions, as well as support roles in areas such as project management and logistics.

Likewise, Oil & Gas UK are working alongside the MoD to develop an online tool designed to map the skills and competencies required to transfer from certain industries into the oil & gas sector.

Initially, the project is being designed as a means for ex-military and services personnel to match their skills and potentially find jobs in the oil & gas industry.

“Although we are focusing on the MoD, we are also in touch with BAE Systems, for example, and we are looking at ways to find out what skills are available and when and how we can transition those that are appropriate into the oil and gas industry,” Thom says.

BP head of upstream human resources Simon Drysdale sees the oil and gas industry as one of the frontrunners for facilitating and encouraging learning and development across multiple organisations.

“Industry bodies, such as OPITO, are becoming increasingly important in encouraging and facilitating multi company training programmes,” Drysdale says.

“That said, more could and should be done. Increasing the skills and capability for the sector as a whole is without doubt positive for the organisations operating within it,” he adds.

For Drysdale, investing time and effort in graduates and new joiners entering the industry is of vital importance.

“For example, we are strong believers in ‘mentoring’. Graduates and new joiners are encouraged to seek a mentor and meet on a regular basis to discuss challenges and career development,” says Drysdale.

“From my own perspective I have found mentoring invaluable, and it has allowed me to build a deeper network within the organisation to be able to draw upon knowledge and advice,” he adds.

Mentoring, and the use of subject matter experts, is prescribed by many in the industry as a significant tool in the retention and passing-on of expert knowledge.

“We do find that quite a few people who plan to retire find that they either come back or give up their time to mentor younger people through the professional engineering bodies,” Thom says.

The future prospects of UK oil & gas looks bright, as investment and activity continue to surge. But it must continue to stay on the front foot when it comes to skills if it is to successfully meet the needs of a growing industry.

“We would like to see more people coming in and being trained,” Thom says. “The industry is not complacent, and we are always looking into how we can do more.”