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Industry tackles the skills issue as Offshore Europe comes to an energetic close

SECURING the skills needed to safeguard the future of the UK oil and gas industry will dominate the final day of Offshore Europe 2011 as the next generation workforce travel around the North Sea and beyond in an interactive journey to discover what life in the diverse energy sector is really like.

Dynamic careers event Energise Your Future is returning to the AECC to close the final day of Offshore Europe for the second time. Run by OPITO, the industry body which is leading the charge to attract the workforce of the future, it gives school pupils the chance to try out a range of hands-on activities designed to bring the huge range of careers the oil and gas industry offers to life.

“The skills issue has dominated this year’s conference with industry in agreement that securing the workforce of the future is a key priority,” said OPITO skills development director Mike Duncan.

“A talented and enthusiastic workforce is one of the industry’s most important assets. Extracting the UK’s 24 billion barrels of oil and gas and servicing the global oil and gas industry will provide young people across the UK with exciting and challenging careers for many decades to come.

“The sector’s biggest challenge however is conveying this so that we can secure the talented and enthusiastic workforce required to overcome technical challenges and increase efficiency. Just one of the pan-industry initiatives OPITO is driving forward, Energise Your Future allows pupils to view oil and gas in a new light, making an impression that will impact on their future career choices.”

Worth around £16billion annually to the UK, the oil and gas supply chain encompasses all kinds of careers from geologists, engineers and helicopter pilots through to chefs, nurses, lawyers and HR professionals with an estimated 10,000 positions across the industry needing to be filled over the next five years alone.

Energise Your Future at OE ‘11 gives oil and gas organisations direct access to 250 talented fifth and sixth year students already studying the key science, technology, engineering and maths subjects needed to fill the industry skills gap in the future.

Around 20 companies, including TAQA, BP, Shell, Schlumberger, Total, Wood Group, Technip and Maersk Oil, are taking part - each providing a unique interactive activity which raises awareness of the wide variety of careers open to young people in oil and gas.

Prior to trying their hand at piloting a remotely operated underwater vehicle, finding out what it takes to drill a well and discovering how geologists uncover hydrocarbons buried deep under the seabed, pupils will take part in a speed networking event at Aberdeen Football Club.

More than 100 university students and industry professionals will share their experience in a bid to showcase the diversity of careers and help school pupils see where their interests and chosen subjects fit in an industry context.

Pupils will also get a first-look at a brand new industry website prior to it going live later this year. myoilandgascareer.com will showcase the sector as an innovative and buoyant place to work by using case studies of real people employed across the supply chain.

“Throughout this year’s conference, the skills message has been a key theme for companies of all sizes and sectors. As an industry we must continue to do all we can to attract the kind of innovation and creativity that has made the energy sector the exciting and vibrant place it is today,” added Mr Duncan.

“We are taking great strides in opening up avenues of communication with young people with the aim of demystifying oil and gas and redressing many of the common misconceptions about the sector but it is vital that we continue to find ways to allow people to engage with our industry more than they ever have before.

“Today’s event gives young people the chance to use their existing skills and knowledge and apply it to practical challenges similar to those experienced by science, engineering and business professionals and open their eyes to the reality that oil and gas is much more than just getting hydrocarbons out of the ground.”

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