The oil and gas industry is “voting with its feet” and recruiting in places like India due to a dearth of skills in richer countries, the boss of energy giant Shell says.
Ben van Beurden, the Anglo-Dutch company’s chief executive was bemoaning a lack of investment in training in some of the world’s wealthiest oil producing nations.
Speaking at the high-powered Business 20 Summit in Sydney, he said his industry and others were highly dependent on technical skills.
But in rich countries they faced a major struggle to find the people they needed, he added.
Mr van Beurden said business had a role to play showing young people “the magic of science” and getting them into it early.
He added: “If it doesn’t work, then business has no choice but to vote with its feet and, unfortunately in some circumstances, we have found that the only way to access talent was to go to places like India.
“There’s a tremendous amount of talent available [there], quite often also competitive talent.
“And we have built engineering and technology centres in a country where we actually don’t invest that much, but where the access to talent is simply better than it is in this country (Australia) or in Europe.”
Skills shortages have long plagued the North sea oil and gas industry.
The sector has also struggled with its public image at times but it has been working hard lately to sell itself as a “sexy” choice for people looking for job satisfaction.
A spokesman for Skills Development Scotland said: “The energy industry represents a significant long-term career opportunity for young people in Scotland and the skills shortages in the sector are well-known.
“To help address these challenges, the Scottish Government, in consultation with industry and Skills Development Scotland, established Energy Skills Scotland (ESS) to support Scotland’s energy sector.
“ESS aims to boost collaboration between employers, academia and education to meet the future industry skills demands, by encouraging more talent into and across the energy sector – specifically supporting more women and young people into the industry.”
The national skills body added: “This is entirely in line with the findings of the Commission on Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce, chaired by Sir Ian Wood, a key figure in Scotland’s oil and gas industry.
“Businesses and industry need to do more to work together with education and young people, and vice-versa, to establish pro-active and engaged relationships which will benefit both young people and employers.”
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