UKCS Offshore Workforce Demographics Report 2013

UKCS OFFSHORE WORKFORCE DEMOGRAPHICS REPORT 2013

1.

Foreword

The UK oil and gas industry has been active since the mid-1960s and has grown, now requiring around 26,000 workers who regularly travel offshore, alongside the hundreds of thousands who work onshore.

To ensure a continued, sufficient supply of skilled people to service UK oil and gas production, it is important that the industry understands the workforce profile and how it changes over time.

Oil & Gas UK’s most recent forecasts highlight record investment in new developments, growing interest in exploring for new reserves and fields that are expected to produce into the 2040s 1 . Developing an understanding of the workforce profile is therefore more important than ever in meeting the growing and long-term demand for a skilled workforce. This is Oil & Gas UK’s seventh annual UK Continental Shelf Offshore Workforce Demographics Report and is designed to help companies understand current trends and to plan ahead. It considers how the composition of the offshore workforce has changed from 2006 to 2012, with particular attention paid to age, gender and residential location. Oil & Gas UK is actively developing and helping to drive forward a number of industry programmes to sustain the supply of workers throughout the sector. These initiatives include, but are not limited to, improving the perception of the industry as a place to build a career, helping to encourage the uptake of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects in schools, and supporting the transition of skilled people in the mid-career phase from other sectors.

We hope you enjoy reading the report. Any queries should be directed to Oil & Gas UK’s employment and skills issues manager, Dr Alix Thom, on athom@oilandgasuk.co.uk

Alix Thom Employment and Skills Issues Manager

1 Oil & Gas UK’s Activity Survey 2013 is available to download at: http://www.oilandgasuk.co.uk/forecasts.cfm

page 4