Abstract
Over the last couple of years, both the global and UK oil and gas industries have grown to meet demand. Prices have increased, and less accessible oil and gas accumulations have become economic. Engineering skills critically underpin this work.
There is a general shortage of trained engineers and skills match in the UKCS, a problem that is compounded by demographic change and intense competition for existing resources from within our industry and from other sectors that recognise the value of the analytical skills offered by engineers. The shortage is being addressed at governmental level, providing guidance through strategic reviews such as the Roberts report, and at the corporate level with activities that span secondary and higher education as well as training and development during employment.
Figures (2005) for the UKCS suggest there is a further 21.1 billion boe total reserves. Global reserves stand at over 50 years production at current rates, offering opportunities in the UK's growing services sector. The diverse educational, recruitment and development activities of drilling engineers in a major oil operator are discussed against this background. The case is made that existing employees can do much to help attract newcomers to our industry and that the oil and gas industry in the UK still offers a challenging and rewarding career. Possible gaps and opportunities are identified, such as the increasingly global nature of the candidate pool, changing expectations and use of technology to help train the next generation of drilling engineers and manage the demographic challenge. Work in multi-disciplinary teams and the need for increased knowledge outside traditional drilling engineering skills has also increased the attractiveness of the job and opened it up to a wider pool of science, engineering and technology disciplines.
