People power

We are overlooking a pressing issue, says EAGE President Gareth Williams: the ability to find and maintain an adequate supply of skilled workers.

Asked to consider the biggest challenges facing our industry today, many would point to issues ranging from the technical – how do we find and extract our fuel more quickly and at lower cost? – to the political – what’s a fair price and control to place on exported oil and gas.? But, speaking with Gareth Williams, President of the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE), it appears we may be overlooking a far more pressing issue – the ability of the industry’s to find and maintain an adequate supply of skilled workers.

Williams believes this is a real problem that the industry should take more seriously, saying: “It’s tempting to say that market forces will take care of supply and demand, but while this partly explains the current dearth of science graduates – and in particular geoscience graduates – in most western countries, it will take quite a long time for the ‘market’ to increase supply. For example, in England and Wales students can choose to give up science in their mid-teens, so in order to see an increase in science graduates seven years from now, we would have to change teenagers’ choice of courses today.”

According to Williams, it is a problem that will likely lead to a shortfall of young talent in the West for at least the next 10 years. The lack of interest in science from teenagers is something the EAGE as an organization is very concerned about and has responded by organizing a working group to consider the possible role it can play in changing those perceptions.

Williams also adds that while this problem is now well recognized, there is another lesser known issue looming on the horizon – that a huge wedge of experienced people are now leaving the industry, choosing to take early retirement. As Williams explains: “This is an industry that requires considerable flexibility in terms of travel, the adoption of new technologies and the necessity on occasion to work in less than comfortable environments. Some employees in their late 50s and 60s may feel that they don’t want to do this any longer. If that is the case – and if they have stock options or bonuses that have been inflated by the current high share and oil prices – then it’s reasonable to expect that many will say ‘enough is enough’. If that happens, the demand crunch will be in less than 10 years, but the increase in supply will not be there in time.”

Of course, the extent of the problem is not uniform across the world, with trends varying greatly from one country to another and from region to region, even over short distances. This, as Williams explains, has meant the industry is characterised by the movement of professionals to areas of the world with a smaller pool of potential employees or with better earning potential. “For example, a significant proportion of people entering the industry in the US are of Chinese background. In addition, we are already seeing a movement of young professionals from some Eastern European countries within the EU, and Romania will add to that when it enters the EU soon. This has always been a multinational industry and we can expect to see cross border sourcing of staff increasing rapidly and leading to truly multinational staffing of major companies. It’s all part of globalisation.”

When it comes to this region, Williams sees a trend for young professionals to seeking out the higher pay and job opportunities in the West. “This may start to happen at a more experienced level before too long as well,” he adds. “Most Western oil companies and contractors have very lean staffing levels after the massive shakeout from mergers in the late 1990s. This did not affect companies within the CIS, so we might expect that there is a pool of talent with experience waiting to fill some of the vacancies as people retire in the West.”

Asked whether he feels companies in the industry are currently doing enough to nurture and retain talent in this profession, Williams replies that while companies are now starting to do this, it may be a case of too little too late. “I heard one senior oil executive in the late 1990s boast that his company could still hire the best brains in the country. Given the number of people laid off from the industry around that time, I had to wonder how clever these ‘best brains’ were! We are probably now doing a much better job of retaining people already in the industry, but there is still a huge problem with the public’s perception of this industry that we need to overcome if we are to attract new entrants. We need to convince bright young people first and foremost that science is fun and ‘cool’ and then that the oil industry is environmentally aware, beneficial to mankind, financially rewarding and that it can provide a varied, but long-term career. My perception is that this is less of a problem in the CIS than in the West, but I’m not really sure if this is true.”

Part of the vibrant and varied nature of the industry comes from the continuing evolution of technologies used to confront its challenges. Williams cites, for example, the emergence of new technologies such as controlled source EM, which offers the hope of more reliable hydrocarbon protection. “Another example is the use of multi-azimuth or wide azimuth seismic surveying techniques to provide better imaging of the sub-surface. 4D seismic surveying is also helping to break down barriers between geophysicists and reservoir engineers.”

He also points out that, given the lack of investment in R&D in recent decades and with the difficulties faced today in finding new oil and gas supplies, it is more important than ever to optimise our use of such new techniques.

And with the introduction of new concepts and procedures, ongoing and continual training becomes even more essential, and is an area in which the EAGE plays a vital role. “EAGE not only organises conferences and publications that provide means of presenting new ideas, but also facilitates short courses and lectures by distinguished members of our industry,” comments Williams. “For example, we recently organised a whole week of courses in London that was offered to both our members and non-members alike. In March, we will officially open our new office in Moscow and I expect this to allow us to increase substantially the training courses and conferences that we organise within the CIS.”