A new skills strategy for the UK’s oil and energy industry

It’s OPITO’s follow up to its UKCS Workforce Dynamic Review in May, which suggested that over the next two decades around 80,000 workers will leave the sector by 2035, and in order to fulfil its ambitions strategic action has to be taken. That includes bringing in at least 10,000 posts that do not exist today, as well as ensure that the workers who are brought in have the requisite skills to fulfil future changing needs.

John McDonald, chief executive of Opito, said: “As the industry emerges from the downturn, it is crucial that we take a longer term look at the future UK oil and gas skills requirements. A new skills strategy will help us to take action now to prepare for emerging roles and ensure the existing workforce is being given opportunities to up-skill.

“Whilst total employment will fall over the next two decades, this will be a more gradual process than the sharp hit experienced over the last three years. If the industry can work together to achieve ambitions around production and energy diversification, tens of thousands more roles can be safeguarded and our industry will continue to be one of the key industrial sectors in the UK for years to come.”

OPITI says it has received overwhelming support for the findings in the Workforce Dynamics Review and the skills strategy development will now be its priority over the coming months. It says it wants to be able to take swift and appropriate action to safeguard roles, up-skill the existing workforce and prepare the sector for emerging roles.

OPITO is working with Robert Gordon University’s Oil and Gas Institute. By engaging with industry and stakeholders, it aims to create a skills demand map. The director Paul de Leeuw said: “The skills strategy will identify what new skills will be required in the future to ensure the UK continues to have world class capabilities to support the oil and gas industry and the wider energy sector.”

RGU plans to hold workshops with operators and the supply chain, and will also launch a targeted industry survey to identify exactly which skills and capability requirements are needed for the future. It is likely that as AI becomes more prevalent in the industry, some traditional jobs will be lost but there will be others created in data analytics, data science, robotics, change management and remote operations.