Selling Ourselves Short on Skills
Indeed, in the two years that OPITO has been active in Kuala Lumpur, the number of training providers who operate to approved world-class standards has increased from 18 in 2007 to 29 in 2009. The template is being replicated across the Middle East where OPITO has opened an office and is experiencing similar success. Going forward, we will be looking towards creating a base in the Americas.
OPITO wants individual companies to be in a position where they can embrace change as the industry embarks on a decade of new challenges.
Recent industry briefings held in Abu Dhabi and Doha saw strong representation from a diverse cross-section of employers keen to discover how they can get involved. This signifies a real desire in the industry to change its safety and standards culture and also to address the underlying factors that contribute to how it goes about filling the skills gap by attracting and retaining the cream of the workforce talent.
Meanwhile, as the global thirst for oil and gas continues to grow, new challenges present themselves. Mature fields, such as those in the UK continental shelf, present a wealth of new opportunities and a fresh demand on the skills base. OPITO wants individual companies to be in a position where they can embrace change as the industry embarks on a decade of new challenges.
With an estimated 10,000km of pipeline, 15 onshore terminals and around 5,000 wells making up the North Sea infrastructure on top of a number of small and large steel platforms, decommissioning presents both a challenge and an opportunity for the skilled workforce.
Total costs involved in decommissioning the UK continental shelf are estimated at £15–20 billion, with the bulk of the work scheduled to take place over the next two decades.
A complex process, ensuring the associated technology, economic, environmental and safety challenges are addressed and overcome will require closer than ever collaboration between operators, the contracting community and governments. The lessons learned and the knowledge gleaned in the North Sea will, as has happened in the past, be rolled out as the global oil and gas industry progresses.
In order to achieve this success, it is vital that the technical talent is in place. There are a raft of initiatives under way geared towards securing a solid skills base from which to progress.
A joint training venture designed to provide skilled technicians with an avenue into the oil and gas sector has seen a successful pilot get under way at Forth Valley College in Scotland.
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The 12-week transformation training course was launched by Fiona Hyslop, then Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, in October 2009. It offers a fast-track avenue for workers with an established knowledge base and experience of other industries to switch to oil and gas. The course includes the Minimum Industry Safety Training (MIST) and BOSIET, as well as electrical safety awareness and petroleum open learning units.
This partnership outlines the importance of government, the learning supply chain and the industry – through its Academy – working together to achieve a common goal. Industrial engagement and participation are embedded throughout the programme in order to produce highly skilled and competent technicians.
Critical to the success of current and future work within the UK continental shelf will be a strong industry and academic support mechanism. To that end, OPITO and Oil & Gas UK have set up a new cross-industry skills forum that will replace the previous Oil and Gas UK Skills Forum. This group will be the primary route for the OPITO to link with industry and deliver what the industry needs, as well as linking in with academic and learning support.
As has been learned from the past, failure to plan and develop long-term skills and feedstock strategies will result in skills shortages.
In order to achieve this success, it is vital that the technical talent is in place. There are a raft of initiatives under way geared towards securing a solid skills base from which to progress.
Such scenarios have wide-ranging implications for the industry, including significant cost inflation, reduced competitiveness, decreased business efficiency, delayed projects and unattractiveness of the industry as a career.
The skills forum will help to guide and support the OPITO in its work to sustain a prosperous and competitive industry through the development of a safe and skilled workforce.
The UK is a mature market compared with emerging provinces around the globe, so the challenges it faces differ. However, the new relationships being forged and the groundbreaking initiatives being brought into play could act as a model for other developing energy hubs.
So, the industry does have to talk about the need to address the very real issue of what happens on the retirement of the workforce that has grown up with oil and gas and helped forge world-class standards and practices.
However, it is worth remembering that there is a very real and tangible enthusiasm within the industry to address this and ensure it is not going to be left high and dry. n
EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION – VOLUME 9 ISSUE 2
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