I’ve just taken my last walk-around this year’s Subsea Expo and chatted to some very weary exhibitors who are in the process of dismantling their stands and looking forward to putting their feet up.
It would appear, that despite all the doom and gloom, there are some encouraging chinks of light.
The show has highlighted the mountain we have to climb in order to get fit for $30 oil. However, it also reinforced that it’s not insurmountable. We have the expertise, know-how and experience to turn things around especially if we can quickly make the fundamental behavioural changes required.
So Subsea Expo is over for another year and, and while many may want to erase 2015 and fast-forward through 2016, most will remember this event as a turning point for our sector.
Faced with one of the toughest times in our industry, delegates turned out in force. We have recorded almost 7,000 visits to the show by 5,000 delegates. This is astounding in the current climate.
The innovation and technology, on show at the exhibition and presented during the technical sessions, underscored the ingenuity of our companies and why our supply chain is envied around the world.
The final day at Subsea Expo is largely dedicated to young people and there was no shortage of school pupils and students at the show today eager to find out what opportunities there are in this exciting sector, despite the negative headlines about job cuts.
Thanks to OPITO, who organised “Energise Your Future” at Subsea Expo, we welcomed almost 250 young people from schools in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, Moray and Fife.
Twenty of our exhibitors generously gave of their time today to host these pupils, showing their technology and talking to them about the diverse range of career opportunities available within the industry.
Many provided interactive activities for the youngsters to gain hands on experience including piloting an ROV at Ac-cess, testing response skills at BEL Valves and a demonstration of pipeline integrity and fatigue at DNV-GL.
Around 200 students took up our offer of free transport to get to the show and we welcomed several coach loads, with 25 MSc students from Strathclyde University alone!
We still need a flow of fresh talent into the industry and we cannot simply turn off the tap and expect the younger people we are trying to encourage into subsea to be available and excited about this industry once we are ready to recruit again.
Neil Gordon is chief executive of Subsea UK
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