Oil and gas industry to hold Aberdeen summit over shortage of recruits

By FRANK URQUHART
Published on 06/09/2012 13:12

THE leaders of Britain’s oil and gas industry are to hold their first ever skills summit in Aberdeen later this month to discuss the growing shortage of talented recruits to the industry.

Earlier this week accountancy experts PwC warned that companies based in the city would need to recruit 120,000 skilled workers over the next ten years or risk losing Aberdeen’s place as one of the world’s great energy centres because of a an “emerging talent and recruitment crisis”.

And a report published last month by Oil and Gas UK, the pan industry trade body, also revealed that there has been a decline in the number of employees aged between 35 and 49 working in the North Sea - possibly caused by people returning to onshore roles or being transferred to other countries.

A spokesman for Oil and Gas UK has now announced that senior figures from the industry will gather at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre on 19 September to chart a way forward and develop ideas for a “collaborative industry skills strategy.”

Dr Alix Thom, Oil and Gas UK’s employment and skills issues manager, said: “We’ve known in the industry for some time that there exists a ‘skills gap’ – where the demand for experienced skilled workers has outstripped the supply. Similarly, we know that women are very much under-represented, particularly but not only, in the offshore workforce and they constitute a significant untapped talent pool.

“The time has come to tackle this issue head on if we are to guarantee a long-term future for the oil and gas industry in the UK.

“The purpose of this skills summit is to gather ideas which will then form a collaborative industry strategy. There are areas such as conversion training for craft workers and technicians, where we can build on existing collaboration and put plans into action almost immediately.”

She continued: “There are other areas where we need to explore new ideas and agree the best way forward, for example in filling positions in disciplines such as design engineering and project management, which are proving the most difficult to fill.

“We also hope to be able to identify the obstacles which are hindering bringing in new entrants to the industry, find ways to accommodate more apprentices and ensure training opportunities are widely available.”