A new survey into the workforce on the UK continental shelf (UKCS) will reveal where there is a skills gap in the oil and gas industry.
This is the opinion of Robert Gordon University (RGU), which helped Opito, a skills body for the energy sector, to compile the UKCS Workforce Dynamics Review.
This report suggested over 40,000 more people are required in the industry over the next 20 years for the country to meets its energy transition, production and export targets, Eastern Daily Press revealed.
More than 10,000 of these positions do not currently exist, showing just how much change is needed within the sector for the UK to achieve its ambitions.
Following the report, Opito, along with RGU’s Oil and Gas Institute, will release a survey to better understand what the demand for future skills is while also talking with stakeholders and industry experts to compile ‘skills demand maps’.
The news provider reported Paul de Leeuw, director of the RGU Oil and Gas Institute, as saying: “The skills strategy will identify what new skills will be required in the future to ensure the UK continues to have world class capabilities to support the oil and gas industry and the wider energy sector.”
Chief executive of Opito also stated that this strategy will help the industry improve the skills of existing oil and gas engineers, as well as “prepare the sector for emerging digital and data roles”.
This supports a recent article in the Guardian that suggested modern technology is changing the future of engineering.
Kinjal Dave, an aerospace graduate from Queen Mary University of London, told the newspaper that engineering is transforming thanks to the “digital revolution”, which could encourage young people with skills in technology to consider jobs in the industry.