Oil and gas job growth faces long road ahead
ON the heels of Opec’s landmark agreement in November and oil prices holding steady above $50, it appears there are positive indications that things might improve in the next year, however the recovery likely has a long road ahead.
According to a report by one recruitment agency earlier this year, more than 291,500 energy jobs have been lost worldwide since oil prices collapsed in 2014.
More recently, the steady purge of jobs from the US shale patch have reportedly stopped and October was the first month since the crash started that the number of support jobs was less than 1,000.
Extraction jobs not only remained stable but increased in November and workers saw small bumps in wages and the number of hours worked according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Rig activity in the US has also steadily climbed throughout 2016. According to a December 16 Baker Hughes report, the US oil rig count increased by 13 to 637, a 72-rig difference from the 709 seen at the same time in 2015.
Recruitment firms and energy companies are both taking note of the changing market conditions. Gary Benson, VP of project development at international staffing company Brunel, said stabilising oil prices and greater drilling activity are positive indicators that the oil and gas jobs market is positioned for a more favourable year in 2017.
However, he also pointed out that companies are still treading lightly into the new year.
“Traded against these positive metrics is that major oil and gas companies traditionally set their annual CAPEX budgets around the mid-point of the preceding year, so development budgets will likely still have an element of conservativeness and caution factored in to them as they were submitted in advance of the recent upticks in oil price and employment data,” Benson said. [Jonathan Garris — Oilpro]