The talent debate goes on, and on, and on, and on… seemingly ad infinitum.
If the talent you need as a company or an industry as a whole is not arriving in sufficient quantity through the usual channels, you explore other avenues.
It was ever thus with the UK’s offshore industry – right since central government got behind establishing a network of fabrication yards to capitalise on the North Sea oil and gas platforms construction boom of the 1970s and 80.
At that time hundreds of thousands of skilled workers were being slung on the scrapheap, together with a massive chunk of the UK’s once world-class heavy engineering capability, including shipbuilding, rail traction and much else besides.
These guys had transferable skills aplenty and they were prepared to travel hundreds of miles in quest of work.
A prime example of that was Highlands Fabricators on the Cromarty Firth; another was Kishorn though that only had one contract, the Ninian Central platform.
Such yards were manned up for projects and then manned down unless another big contract was landed in time. It was a semi-nomadic life for many and some of the guys eventually made careers out of the oil and gas industry, working offshore for excellent money.
Oil service firms based in Aberdeen have regularly made use of manufacturing capacity in the Central Belt and elsewhere; a great example in the 1990s being Petroleum Engineering Services, which was co-founded by local entrepreneur.
So, the decision by Oil States to shifting manufacturing to the Central Belt to ease payroll pressure comes as no surprise; it’s logical, in fact.
The population of north-east Scotland is about 400,000 people – that’s not a big pool of human capital. Moreover, the region is in UK geographic terms relatively isolated … apparently.
Greater Houston measures 60 miles by 60 miles. Aberdeen and Dundee are less than 70 miles apart yet might just as well be on different planets.
This skills thing really is an old chestnut; and one that is so well polished that it’s nearly worn away. Seriously, it’s nothing new; but perhaps the industry is getting smarter at articulating the issues and finding solutions.
Jeremy Cresswell is the Press and Journal’s energy editor.
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