Going into a new year, most of us will be looking forward to the coming 12 months having a brighter outlook than the prior 24.
While the industry has had its fair share of turmoil in recent years, oil is seen as a global, unified measure of the economic recovery.
Oil prices are still trending upwards and we have seen continued investment in the North Sea even in challenging times, with a record 356 exploration licences granted in the most recent round of approvals and no sign of a slowdown in interest in that area.
With this in mind we should be looking forward with optimism, and rightly so, but also with one eye on what this means for our industry in terms of the wider skills picture.
The results of our sector-wide research with Aberdeen Business School – The Robert Gordon University have been collated, and we now have clear evidence of where the gaps are and how the industry is going to be tested going forward.
We have been here before, but probably not with the same clarity we now have on the specific nature of the skills shortages that will have a significant impact on business performance, or the catastrophic effects that cost escalation brings when talent is at a premium.
The difference is how we handle it and, when I say we, I mean the industry and the learning supply chain as this is not a problem that OPITO can fix on its own. We must work collectively. The clock is ticking fast and we are probably already too slow in some areas.
OPITO has been working tirelessly on behalf of the industry on so many fronts, but even now there is the concern that we may already be too late if the expected upsurge in activity happens early in 2011. Working out development programmes and getting them in place, bringing the learning supply chain on board and moving the industry as a whole to the point where we can capitalise on the opportunities before us cannot be done quickly.
We can see how busy our industry is going to be in the months and years to come. We have set the scene and can play an instrumental part in co-ordinating the industry’s response, but we need companies across the board to rise to the challenge.
Now is the time to galvanise our efforts, to start working towards a shared common goal and make 2011 a year for positive and long-lasting change in the oil & gas industry.
David Binnie and the board of OPITO have a strong en gagement plan to gather support across the industry so OPITO can prioritise its resources and tackle the issues in a constructive way.
The work has started yet there is so much to do, all I ask is that we all play our part because, as we know, a skills shortage affects every single business in this great industry.
David Doig is group chief executive at OPITO – The Oil & Gas Academy
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