The glass half full?

Looking over the horizon

Due to the underinvestment in human capital in the 80s and 90s that is driving the expected Crew Change, we can see a very positive outlook for professionals in this industry, in spite of the current slowdown. Key roles in demand are geoscientists, drilling and pipeline engineers, project managers and commercial managers. Many senior professionals are choosing to defer retirement and engage in knowledge transfer, while young entrants are seeing more opportunities in the sector open up around the world.

Industry professionals will agree that the days of easy oil are over. Most future E&P activities will be in frontier geographies, inhospitable climes and politically unstable regions. Advanced technology and exploration techniques are required to ef%uFB01ciently recover oil from these projects. This would require an experienced technical and scienti%uFB01c workforce. Indeed the degree of technical innovation required for these types of projects would demand a more cross-trained individual; one that is able to develop and apply new technologies across a range disciplines. How are we creating these new skill sets?
The other large trend we'll see in the coming years is the rise of different renewable technologies – bio-fuels, wind, solar and geothermal. These nascent industries require technologists and commercial personnel with the skills to develop deploy and manage large projects with complexities in economic, political and commercial models. Currently there are two key sources of such people – the armed forces and the global oil and gas industry. Many oil and gas majors are already positioning themselves as integrated energy graduates to these %uFB01elds, while mid-career professionals that want to move to new areas will %uFB01nd their valuable skills much in demand in the development of these new technologies.


What next?

Overall, the current global slowdown is likely to have only a short term impact on employment and career prospects in the oil and gas industry. The industry fundamentals are solid, and the needs are even greater. Given the huge shortage of technical professionals and the imminent burden of a massive crew change, the demand for skilled professionals will remain high in the foreseeable future.

About the author


Yagya Ahuja is CEO of Global Energy Talent (www.globalenergytalent.com). He previously worked at Schlumberger managing operations in the Wireline division in China, Australia, Iran and India. At BP he was instrumental in creating strategy and implementation plans for a series of next-generation projects.

He holds a B.Eng from the Indian Institute of Technology and an MBA from Duke University.

Tags & Keywords : Oil and Gas, Training, Talent, Career, Management, HR