Skills study to examine future for oil industry

A major labour market analysis of the oil and gas industry is to be carried out to shape a skills strategy for the next 20 years, it was announced today.

Led by safety, standards and workforce development organisation Opito, the project will be carried out by Robert Gordon University’s Oil and Gas Institute.

According to the latest figures available from Oil & Gas UK, in 2016 more than 330,000 jobs supported oil and gas pro- duction in the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS), of which about 186,000 were direct posts.

The new assessment will forecast the expected job roles required to service the sector by 2035 by using technology and industry trends to evaluate how some of the positions will change.

Opito boss and Energy Jobs Taskforce member John Mcdonald said: “The industry has undergone a number of significant changes over the past few years. This means that the skills required by the workforce are changing.”