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Thursday, March 27, 2014
Release
Oil and Gas Industry Must Collaborate If It Is To Solve Skills Shortage According To Latest Workforce Survey
African market still being hindered by lack of local talent despite increase in investment
OilCareers.com and Air Energi are calling for the oil and gas industry to collaborate more if it is to successfully tackle the skills shortage. This follows the publication of The Global Oil & Gas Workforce Survey 2014, a joint report on the people focussed issues facing the oil and gas industry.
According to the survey, which raises awareness of the people related risk in the industry and its impact on projects, engineers are the scarcest commodity with more than half of participants identifying it as the most in-demand role followed by project manager, drilling, contract administrator and geologist.
Air Energi CEO, Duncan Gregson, said: “The oil and gas industry is powered by a highly mobile and skilled workforce. Experienced professionals are extremely sought after, highly remunerated and are offered excellent benefits. The critical issue for the industry in 2014 will be retaining staff, which is one of the key drivers in budget-overspend and schedule delays. We must, as an industry, look to collaboration as a solution if we are to solve our on-going problems.”
Other key findings in the survey include 58% of respondents confirming they expect salaries to rise in 2014 and 50% predicting that hiring rates for both permanent and contract positions will also increase. 69% of those questioned believe that more must be done to promote the opportunities within the industry to younger generations.
OilCareers.com managing director, Mark Guest said: “Furthermore, 2014 must be the year where the industry seriously looks at the investment it is making in securing the future workers for the industry. The millennial generation holds the key to the future success of the oil and gas industry – attracting and retaining them is essential.”
Three-quarters of the Global Oil & Gas Workforce Survey respondents confirmed that their organisation offered internal training, although 29% of these admitted that there was not a full selection of training available.
Mr Guest added: “Companies don’t have a good track record of collaborating with each other when it comes to addressing the root cause of the skills shortage. If we are going to see a real and positive change in the skills gap the industry as a whole must work together on the development of education, training and local content initiatives.”
In West Africa, due to the more mature nature of assets, demand is high for those with operational and maintenance experience, whilst the up and coming East African market is seeing strong demand for those with drilling and exploration skills.
Also affecting the labour market is the burgeoning Brazilian industry, with increased activity there expected to result in a migration of many skilled workers, particularly Angolans to South America.
More positively it is anticipated that local investment will increase, particularly in East Africa, with many of the companies operating in the region looking to ensure more people attain the necessary qualifications and experience to work within the industry.
Mr Guest added: “Maturing assets and competition from other regions around the globe present the African oil and gas industry with significant challenges in terms of recruitment. In West Africa, the skill sets of the local candidates have been well developed over a number of years and oil and gas professionals are well qualified. This is not yet the case in East Africa and all trends point to experienced professionals moving to regions where they may be better paid.
Encouragingly local content initiatives are ongoing in the region with investment being made to recruit and train workers.”
Also highlighted in the findings is the on-going challenge surrounding staff retention as an anticipated increase in project activity in the Middle East, North America and Australia begins to filter through.
Mr Gregson added: “We are beginning to see projects being scrutinised for cost effectiveness and viability. At the moment we are operating in a healthy market, however the danger is always that a drop is just around the corner, which could be a major blow to industry training budgets which are, regrettably, often the first to be cut.”
Mr Guest concluded: “The very nature of our work means that both OilCareers.com and Air Energi are immersed entirely in the oil and gas process. Through our work with operators and service companies we have built up strong links and a broad knowledge base that allows us to provide the industry with the most complete information when it comes to recruitment.”
The findings come in the revamped survey, the first of two to be released in 2014, that saw the two organisations collaborate to document the views of more than 500 professionals from across the supply chain and spanning every major region on the industry’s most pressing recruitment questions. The report also includes insight from OPITO chief executive, David Doig.
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