OPITO, the global, not-for-profit skills body for the energy industry, has appointed Stuart Clow as director with a remit focused on supporting industry safety through high-quality training and competency standards.
Mr Clow has over 30 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry in a variety of roles both in the UK and internationally including Africa, South America and the Middle East.
He spent 28 years with Transocean, latterly as workforce planning manager where he was responsible for resource planning for both offshore and onshore operations in the Eastern Hemisphere and also worked on major capital projects globally. He started his career as a roustabout with Transocean, working his way up to senior driller roles, before transferring onshore to HR and competency, where he held a series of operations leadership roles.
He spent the last 16 months with Norwegian firm COSL Drilling Europe AS where he established crew resource requirements for its North Sea operations.
More than 250,000 people are trained to OPITO standards every year, across 45 countries through 200 accredited training centres.
John McDonald, CEO of OPITO said: “Stuart has impressive and varied industry expertise from being involved in drilling operations offshore to managing complex global resourcing and workforce requirements for a multi-national company. We are recognised for the quality of our standards that are designed to keep the workforce safe and competent and Stuart’s appointment to OPITO’s leadership team will further strengthen our support to global stakeholders in maintaining this benchmark.”
Mr Clow will be based in Aberdeenshire, leading the approvals team which oversees the international training provider network and managing workforce development programmes including the successful Oil and Gas Technical Apprentice Programme (OGTAP).
He commented: “OPITO’s mission to improve safety and competency is close to my heart. Having worked offshore for 18 years in different global locations and then being fortunate to lead global workforce development programmes, I’ve witnessed first-hand the importance of consistent standards. I’m looking forward to supporting the organisation with its ambition to maintain quality at every step of the process.”
Industry-owned, OPITO works with governments, national oil companies, operators and contractors offering a range of services and products to meet international skills needs.