Training body Opito said yesterday the North Sea oil and gas industry was facing the biggest shake-up of skills provision in its history.
The organisation said it was to invest £1.2million a year in creating the UK’s first industry-wide offshore skills strategy and, as a first step, will carry out a far-reaching survey to find out exactly what the industry needs in terms of training.
Opito, which supports the oil and gas industry around the world from offices in Aberdeen, Dubai, Malaysia and the US, said the results would form the basis of a national blueprint to replace the current fragmented approach to skills. It is hoped the initiative will go a long way to plugging the skills gap which many people in the UK offshore sector fear could stifle future growth.
Larraine Boorman, managing director of Opito in the UK, said: “Despite significant investment, largely from industry but more recently from government and a raft of private and public initiatives, we are still not properly addressing the skills challenges in oil and gas.
“It is vital that more definitive action to deliver a sustainable supply of people … is taken.
“As the body responsible for skills, it is up to Opito to take control and lead the charge for a step change.
“Valuable activities and initiatives do exist, but there are so many voices speaking that it is difficult to hear the real issues and make sure that the right people are listening.
“A landmark shift has to happen if the industry is to break the cycle which it has been struggling to overcome for decades.”
Ms Boorman said this had to start with accurate labour market intelligence to determine the real facts about the current and expected skills gaps across all industry sectors, adding: “There have been numerous surveys and predictions in the past 12 months from a range of trade bodies, analysts and recruitment companies predicting anything from 10,000 to 150,000 people needed in the coming years.
“Not only do these figures fluctuate significantly, but they don’t tell us with any certainty or clarity what we really need to know, such as how many apprentices do we need each year, how much transition training is required and in which disciplines, or where we need capital investment to increase training capacity.
“Once we have accurate labour market intelligence, it will allow us to correctly inform industry, government, education and training providers and help … to shape a streamlined skills strategy from which projects and initiatives will be identified, implemented and invested in.”
Opito said its revolutionary new approach was creating six jobs at its headquarters at Portlethen, near Aberdeen, with further recruitment likely in the coming months.
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