Three of the north-east’s top oil and gas industry training providers share their insights on the challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic and energy transition with emeritus editor Jeremy Cresswell.
Upstream oil and gas has gone through hell in recent years – two almost coupled-up downturns, the accelerating transition to low carbon energy and a global pandemic that still rages.
All of which have combined to make the North Sea oil and gas industry an uncertain place to work.
It is hard to sustain jobs, never mind bring new blood into the basin, whether through traineeships or importing expertise from other sectors.
Before Covid-19 struck, there was a slight air of optimism re-emerging in Aberdeen, including in the corridors of the Offshore Petroleum Industry Organisation (Opito), whose chief executive is the well-seasoned John McDonald.
In 2018, he had commissioned two pieces of research by Robert Gordon University (RGU) into the future prospects for the workforce out to 2035. The first was published that same year, the second in 2019.
“We set out to discover which oil and gas jobs would remain largely the same in a broader energy skills market and we could see the growth potential and therefore future opportunities presented by offshore wind in particular,” said McDonald.
The growing level of co-operation between big oil and big wind is quite striking and it is something McDonald and his team are capitalising on.
There is a growing acceptance that both sides need to get used to one another, co-operate and be pragmatic about their people.
“We need to have a common approach where sensibly possible,” said McDonald.
“I want young people to be able to move across the sectors. That means developing an approach to training that allows progression – career pathways between offshore oil and gas and offshore wind, for example.
“Until now, the idea of professionals in oil and gas crossing over to wind and perhaps vice versa was seen as problematic, including negotiating different safety standards regimes.”
In 2010, Energy Voice generated anger at the trade body Renewable UK regarding our call for, at the very least, establishing common baseline safety standards as a starting point.
But there has since been a big shift. In September, Opito, which has about 350 apprentices on its books, made its first move into the renewable energy industry with the launch of a new suite of safety and technical training standards and qualifications to address the skills requirements of the fast-growing renewable energy workforce.
Moreover, those starting out, hoping to establish new generation flexible careers, are now being catered for too, with two SCQF-accredited training qualifications – an introduction to mechanical and electrical engineering, and renewable energy foundation training.
Importantly, there is nothing in the least bit parochial about Aberdeen-headquartered Opito’s approach as it worked with Vulcan Training & Consultancy, Poland; Maersk Training UK; Humberside Offshore Training Association; Petrofac, Montrose; Petans, Norwich and FMTC, Netherlands, to build the groundbreaking suite.
While oil and gas remains powerful and is likely to remain a major employer for decades ahead, renewables are rocketing. The latest forecast from Rystad is that offshore wind alone will generate around 870,000 jobs globally by the end of the current decade, from 297,000 in 2020.
In the UK, offshore wind expects to train 3,000 apprentices over the same period at around 300 a year. There is a critical need to ensure that the UK has a flexible, highly trained offshore energy workforce of which high quality apprenticeships are a fundamental building block.
“It’s a huge opportunity and we’re on the front foot with this,” says McDonald, referring to Opito’s Energy Skills Alliance (ESA), designed to get all relevant parties in the same room, decisions made and actions set.
ESA parties include RenewableUK, Scottish Renewables, Oil and Gas UK, East of England Energy Group, the Scottish and UK governments, trade unions, OGTC, nuclear and others.
Four outcomes have emerged. Notably, the Oil and Gas Technical Apprentice Programme (OGTAP) is being modernised, with a digital element being added, and the ESA is looking at how an all-energy apprenticeship might be constructed.
McDonald said: “We’re hoping these two modernisation projects will align. While we have really great people working in our colleges now, the system itself needs overhauling.
“It is a learning/teaching system that basically dates back to the first industrial revolution.
“But while there have been technological changes in the classroom, have all the changes that have happened and which are anticipated in the future been taken into account, such as digital learning and assessment?
“How much of the delivery do we really need to be doing in the classroom in a physical building? How much should we be conducting in a virtual reality environment?
“These are questions that I’m posing. I’m not saying the current system is wrong. But this is part of our thinking about where training should be going.”
One of the rubs is what the energy professionals of tomorrow themselves think they need, bearing in mind their course options remain mostly traditional.
Feedback by current and former apprentices is already clear. Many are already digital learners and dealers. They want change.
Tullos Training: Confronting Covid
“This time last year things were looking pretty good,” said Jim Booth, of Aberdeen-based apprentice specialist Tullos Training.
“We had quite a number of companies looking to take on apprentices for the first time in four or five years. Things were looking positive for us.
“But when Covid struck in March and the UK went into lockdown, recruitment for apprentices totally died. After all, companies cannot be seen to be hiring apprentices while at the same time laying people off and putting others out on furlough.
“We spent most of the first lockdown trying to work out how to continue working with the apprentices we already had.
“Those in their second and third year were reasonably easy to manage because most of their activities are in the workplace anyway.”
Further adjustments included rolling out meetings between instructors and their charges via Zoom or Teams.
But Booth admits that engaging with first-year apprentices has been really difficult, in part because of their age and due to the impact of Covid on workshop training capacity at Tullos.
Around 60-70 oil and gas apprentices are currently on Tullos Training’s books.
In more normal times it can have around 180 first-year oil and gas and construction apprentices of all types on site in one day. At the moment the daily headcount tends to be around 30.
Explaining why getting first-year apprentices motivated and started has become such a challenge, Booth points out that they’re opening a brand new chapter in their lives and the learning experience really has become different.
“It’s not a school and we certainly don’t run the centre like one,” he said. “We provide a working environment and that’s really important.
“It’s hard enough in normal times getting them to understand that and Covid has made everything much more complicated.”
As a result of the lockdowns, the centre was reconfigured to keep everyone safe.
© PRESS AND JOURNAL“One of the things we attempted to do early on was try to shift most of our first-year learning online,” said Booth.
“But then it quickly reached the stage where, to understand mechanical engineering for example, the apprentices needed to be in the workshops where we have specialist equipment.
“We tried various methods to overcome the barrier but they simply did not work. So we initially decided to keep ticking over and then, after the first lockdown came to an end we began to reintroduce the apprentices back into the centre.”
Though low, apprentice numbers started to rise again during what turned out to be just a brief respite.
Along came the second lockdown and more uncertainty for the youngsters.
Despite all the challenges, for Tullos Training itself and for the wider oil and gas industry, there is still a demand for apprentices.
The North Sea remains a 24/7 industry. The service companies are still working and they expect apprentices to be trained.
“I’d say 99% of the companies have been really supportive of what we’re doing to keep things going,” Booth said.
“We’re trying to be flexible in terms of how we bring in new apprentices and get them started on the training, to ensure everyone has the opportunity to learn and that they can manage it.”
But there have been surprises too, like some of the apprentices not having personal access to the internet, or access to a PC, laptop or tablet.
“There is the tendency to assume that, today, everybody has WiFi,” Booth said. “So it came as a shock to discover just how many young people still don’t have access to IT. We had to help them out and some of the companies pitched in too.”
Most apprentices have been very responsive to the efforts made at Tullos to get them started.
When you leave school at the age of 16, having decided to embark on an apprenticeship, it adds up to a massive change, perhaps offering a sense of purpose and worth that you had never before experienced.
Hardly any of the oil and gas apprentices on Tullos’s books have dropped out. They have stuck with it.
March marks the anniversary of the first lockdown. So how optimistic is Jim Booth?
While government continues to hold the Covid cards close to its chest, he is of the view that even the tough, resilient oil and gas industry needs reassurance that, by late summer, there may be a semblance of normality returning.
He said: “We already have companies looking to recruit for after summer but this hope could be scuppered without clear signs that Covid will be properly defeated this time, with government learning from the mistakes of lifting restrictions after the first lockdown too rapidly.”
However, he admits that Tullos Training and other providers may have to steel themselves for another lean apprentice recruitment year.
Nescol: Evolving the offering
While a number of UK colleges offer energy-related apprenticeship training, the one most familiar to the North Sea oil and gas industry is Nescol, which has also had to navigate stormy waters.
But judging by a statement issued last July during the initial Covid relaxation, Nescol and its Aset International Oil & Gas Training Academy subsidiary have not been letting the grass grow under their feet.
“Aset has used this time well, rapidly accelerating our course development programme,” chief executive Atholl Menzies said at the time.
“More than 70 new courses have been created and those cover everything from production trade testing, renewables and the environmental sector to transferrable skills to support energy transition.”
This demonstrates how in tune Nescol has been to the huge changes now wracking the energy industry and which presents opportunities to the established training network.
It is clear too from listening to Nescol’s principal and CEO, Neil Cowie, that a huge effort has been made in terms of building high level recognition and strategic networks, evolving the institution’s energy-related offering and support for apprentices.
Nescol was formed in 2013 through the merger of the Aberdeen and Banff and Buchan colleges, which majored on engineering-related offerings. They were very close to their marketplace and had strong relationships with companies. High quality apprentices were especially needed by North Sea employers.
Despite this strength, it became clear that Nescol needed to broaden its role as a pivotal learning and training establishment, including being even more responsive to the needs of its changing marketplace.
“Right now and despite all the challenges that we’re facing in north-east Scotland, there are real opportunities out there,” Cowie said.
“Let’s be honest, oil and gas is going to remain a big part of our economy. Although there is a huge task ahead in terms of how we evolve our offering, I think it will be a while yet before we get into a full-blown energy transition situation.”
© SYSTEMCowie insists Nescol plays a pivotal role in a regional strategy initiative launched in January and which is part of the Aberdeen City Council Socio-Economic Rescue Plan catalysed by the pandemic.
Led by the council, the campaign brings Nescol, RGU and Aberdeen University together with national agencies, business organisations and community groups.
“We also have a place at the table of the Opportunity North East (ONE) energy board, so we can better understand the emerging plans, intentions and aspirations that many people nurse for the area,” Cowie said.
But how does he see Nescol’s energy skills training offering evolving against stiffening competition, especially on the low-carbon front, where other colleges have become market leaders, while Aberdeen remains broadly channelled towards oil and gas?
“We shouldn’t forget that the energy industry here in the north-east is of national strategic importance,” says Cowie.
“There is a vested interest at government level for this success story to continue.
“But there is a dilemma here, a challenge for us to take on board. When you read the big headlines about oil and gas being in decline, how do you generate a pipeline of skilled, talented people to service what you want in terms of the existing oil and gas offering while taking account of the energy transition?
“I don’t think we’re there yet in terms of that transition. But we’re aware of it.”
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