Editorial comment
In my December 2012 Editorº£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø™s Comment, I discussed the º£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø˜hot topicº£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø™ of the º£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø˜global oil and gas skills shortageº£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø™. So far in 2013, that topic is still a hot one.
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At the end of March, an º£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø˜Oil and Gas Sector Strategyº£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø™ to secure billions of pounds of future investment and thousands of oil and gas jobs was announced by the UK government. Part of the strategy is to address the skills shortage of mid-level career engineers. The government has stated that it will aim to work with industry to establish a national programme to retrain ex-military personnel in order to smooth the progress of their redeployment into the oil and gas industry. Over the years, Iº£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø™ve noticed that many of the successful engineers and senior managers Iº£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø™ve come into contact with in the O&G space are ex-military personnel, and it is certainly often the case that ex-military candidates possess certain attributes that ensure they are a good fit for a career in the global O&G industry. The government has also recently introduced º£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø˜The Shortage Occupation Listº£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø™, which outlines 20 new job categories that are to be exempt from the usual strict immigration rules. While not essentially tackling the global skills shortage per se, this move means that oil and gas companies operating in the North Sea will be able to cut through an inordinate amount of red tape and hire workers from outside Europe; allowing companies to more easily fill critical positions.
