Oil and gas skills gaps 'can be filled by contractors'

Those in the oil and gas industries making the most of specialist accountancy for contractors may take an interest in the 2014 Oil & Gas UK Economic Report, which has identified a series of key areas experiencing an acute onshore worker shortage, which contractors could play a key role in alleviating. Contractors could also help to improve productivity in the North Sea, where investment is coming under threat from spiralling costs.

As reported by the ContractorCalculator website, Oil & Gas UK commented: "Operators and contractors alike continue to cite shortages of adequately skilled people as the foremost challenge facing the industry. The intensity of activity on the UKCS, international competition for talent and current immigration policies have combined to exacerbate these shortages."

Dave Chaplin, ContractorCalculator CEO, hailed the positive role that contingent-based workers like contractors could play in the industry, stating: "When there are just not enough workers to go around, contractors are able to rapidly switch from project to project minimizing downtime and maximizing the uptime when their valuable skills are being used."

Various strategies are being used to tackle the skills shortage, according to the report, including retraining candidates from other sectors and boosting entry-level recruitment. However, some skills areas in which industry experience is all-important continue to suffer from insufficient numbers of suitably skilled workers.

Oil & Gas UK explained that mid-career personnel in numerous onshore roles, such as project management, design, subsea and drilling engineering and geosciences, remained "the critical area of shortage". The natural beneficiaries of such shortfalls are the oil and gas contractors who possess the right skills to land relevant contracts.

Such a list of hard-to-find skills may also lead suitably skilled employees to consider contracting, given the ready availability of lucrative contracts as soon as they start out working for themselves.

Oil & Gas UK added that contracts abounded throughout the UK, but that they were also concentrated in certain areas. While the European oil and gas capital of Aberdeen and the north east of Scotland accounted for many of these roles, new contracts were also to be found in great numbers in London and the south east of England, East Anglia and the north east.

Editor’s Note: SAIL Business Solutions (http://www.sailsolutions.co.uk) are represented by the search engine advertising and digital marketing specialists Jumping Spider Media. Email: info@jumpingspidermedia.co.uk or call: +44 (0)20 3070 1959 / +34 952 783 637.