15th Aug 11
BP struggling to find skilled workers
by Adam Richards
Can't get the staff: BP growth stalled by lack of suitable candidates
Can't get the staff: BP growth stalled by lack of suitable candidates
Engineering skills shortages in the UK are threatening to hold growth back at oil giant BP, stated the company’s head of North Sea operations, Trevor Garlick.
The regional boss said that the FTSE 100 business was intending to recruit between 150 and 300 new employees each year to help manage an expected increase in production, but revealed one of the biggest problems facing the company was finding the right candidates with the required skills in order to fill vacant positions.
In July, BP announced that it would be investing £3bn into its operations in the North Sea in an initiative to redevelop two oilfields. This investment will see the expansion of production at both the Loyal and Schiehallion oilfields, to the Shetland Islands’ west, in a move which would create hundreds of jobs.
However, My Garlick said that the company would find it difficult to attract the required number of engineers for the available roles. He revealed that finding people with the correct skills was the biggest barrier to BP’s growth, saying that getting the right people has become a real issue for the company. He explained that they are hiring a lot of people, but that as they are a centre for recruiting elsewhere, many are being exported to other regions.
Mr Garlick went on to say that the rest of BP sees the North Sea operations as a training ground and quickly snaps up the talented workers to fill overseas posts. He added, however, that there weren’t enough people in the country with the required skills to fill remaining gaps.
The lack of talent could be a real blow for BP’s investment plans, which were announced last month despite the Government’s controversial increase in oil tax. The company revealed earlier in the year that it planned to sell its stakes in southern North Sea gas fields, but Mr Garlick said that the potential for growth in the whole North Sea area was enormous.
He said that they haven’t yet got half of the oil out yet and he feels, over the next two decades, that there needs to be an energy mix which includes fossil fuels and the North Sea area. He pointed out that he feels people are ill-informed when saying that the area is over.
BP has targeted as many as 450m barrels of oil which is believed to still remain in the North Sea. Opito, and oil and gas body which represents the industry, stated that employers are hoping to create some 10,000 new gas and oil jobs in the next five years. However, over half of the companies believe that attracting appropriately skilled employees is a major operational challenge, revealed the group’s latest analysis of 144 companies.
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