Tag Archives: Oil & Gas Jobs

Jobs boost for energy industry

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The Government has welcomed a series of investments by oil and gas companies which will create thousands of energy jobs and launch a new research centre.

Six separate announcements were made, including plans for new oil and gas fields in the North Sea under a £1.4 billion project which should supply around 5% of the UK’s gas production from 2015. The so-called Cygnus project, involving gas giant Centrica, is expected to create around 4,000 jobs.

Oil firm BP said it will open an International Centre for Advanced Materials to support science and engineering, spread across Manchester and Cambridge universities and Imperial College, London, as well as the University of Illinois in the United States. Around £60 million will be invested in the project, which will create a number of new academic posts.

Other announcements include investment by Italian chemical producer Versalis at its Grangemouth site in Scotland, and recruitment of up to 50 new graduate staff by Oxfordshire-based geosciences business Neftex. The news will be revealed at a business summit in London.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “The oil and gas industry’s immense contribution to our skills base, industrial capacity and strength as an exporter are pivotal as we rebalance our economy. Collaboration between business and higher education institutions is boosting the status of the UK as a driver of innovation, and giving our firms a competitive edge. I’m pleased that BP has chosen to partner with a number of our world class universities to find new and more efficient ways of using and generating power.”

Bob Dudley, BP’s group chief executive, said: “Advanced materials and coatings will be vital in finding, producing and processing energy safely and efficiently in the years ahead. Energy producers will work at unprecedented depths, pressures and temperatures, as refineries, plants and pipeline operators seek ever better ways to combat corrosion.

“Manchester has world-leading capabilities and facilities in materials and it was chosen after a global search to act as the ‘hub’ of the centre, with ‘spokes’ in other university departments worldwide.”

Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney welcomed the investment. He said: “Scotland has an incredible wealth of energy resources, capable of both meeting our energy needs and generating significant exports to the rest of the UK and Europe, and the Scottish Government’s oil and gas strategy, developed in conjunction with industry, lays out a plan to help the industry go from strength to strength.

“With more than half of the value of the North Sea’s oil and gas reserves yet to be extracted, 24 billion barrels with a wholesale value of £1.5 trillion, oil and gas will remain an enormous economic resource for decades to come.

“This project forms part of the rising capital investment we have seen in the oil and gas sector – reaching £8.5 billion in 2011 and expected to rise to £11.5 billion in 2012 – which demonstrates the confidence investors and the industry have in Scotland.”

Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gIqrVqhHzJO1Nv2V3QHWFPqNdYTg?docId=N0299541344320135518A

Yards fury at firms’ UK jobs snub

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BOSSES at a major Tyne offshore yard claim global energy giants will cause the loss of 350 North-East offshore jobs because they refused to give contracts to UK firms.

Dennis Clark, chairman of Tyneside’s OGN group, which makes frames for offshore oil and gas platforms in North Tyneside, says the losses are down to firms not fulfilling “a moral duty” to link UK drilling licences to jobs in Britain on contracts worth more than £500m.

Mr Clark said: “We will shed 350 jobs because of oil companies awarding contracts overseas.

“I gave Vince Cable the example of Shell, which did not even approach any UK companies. We also told the Secretary of State for Climate Change, Ed Davey, about this.

“The UK Government awards these licences, and I think these firms do have a moral responsibility to award contracts to UK firms.

“If we were in Norway it would not be a problem. They do not allow work to go out of Norway for their offshore, unless they are full.”

Dr Cable said: “Supply chains have not been developed in the past as they should have been and big contacts have slipped through and gone abroad.

“I’m trying to fix that, and see us think of UK suppliers in a more integrated way.

“I was appalled to discover Shell and BP just have not gone to the effort of seeking out British companies. It is an enormous missed opportunity.”

OGN is already using a section of Hadrian Yard in Wallsend to build an oil production platform for American firm Apache – a deal worth £150m which has seen about 700 workers brought to the site.

It recently announced it had been awarded £640,000 to research and build offshore wind turbine foundations in a custom-built factory.

Shell did not wish to comment.

Source: http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/business/latest-news/yards-fury-at-firms-uk-jobs-snub-1-4716863

Aberdeen base for Statoil could bring 1,300 jobs

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Oil & Gas producer Statoil is to establish an operating centre in Aberdeen as part of two projects that could create 1,300 oil and gas jobs starting in late 2016, a company spokesperson tells Recruiter. The Mariner and Bressay heavy oil field developments on the UK continental shelf are approaching a point where final investment decisions should be made, with production expected to start in late 2016 and 2017 respectively.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron was in Norway last week and was updated on the developments by Statoil. During this visit another Norway-based oil industry firm, Aker Solutions, announced plans to substantially boost its staff in the UK, as reported by recruiter.co.uk. The Statoil spokesperson says that of the estimated 1,000-1,300 oil jobs across the two projects, 200-300 would be onshore, and the developments would also create “substantial ripple effects with job creation also in the supplier industry”. The operating expenditure of the projects between now and 2057 is estimated at £11.5bn. “Internationally, there are very few ultra-heavy oil fields comparable to the Mariner field,” the spokesperson adds. “It will not only be a landmark project for the UK offshore oil & gas industry in its own right, but also unlock new fields in the vicinity.”

1500 Energy Jobs Created In Oil and Gas Sector

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The Deputy Minister for Energy, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini says records available at the Ministry of Energy revealed that 1500 oil and gas jobs had been created, for which 840 were Ghanaians.       

He indicated that government had initiated a number of laws that would regulate the oil and gas industry to ensure the nation derives the needed benefits.          

This was made known, when Alhaji Fuseini took his turn on the floor of parliament to answer questions yesterday.

The Minister stated that his ministry in colloboration with Tullow Ghana was establishing an SME Skills development centre in Takoradi.

He mentioned that Tullow had also allocated 40% of annual scholarships to the people in the Western Region which was initiated by Tullow to train Ghanaians in UK Universities in oil and gas.

Alhaji Fuseini noted there was also an enactment of local content and local participation regulations to safeguard the interest of communities directly affected by the oil and gas activities.           

According to the Minister, government was also implementing a Western Corridor infrastructure development programme that will be funded by the China Development Bank loan.

Alhaji Fuseini indicated that the Oil and Gas Capacity Building Project (OGCBP) which had been implemented by the ministry in partnership with its development partners was to strengthen institutions of learning such as KNUST, Council for Technical and Vocational, Education and training (COTVET), Takoradi Technical Institute, Kikam Technical Institute and Regional Maritime University.

He added that as a result, the Petroleum Commission will have an operational office cited in Takoradi to enable the people of Western Region ascertain the needed information.

Source: Ghana Broadcasting Corporation

Want a job? The oil patch needs you

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An aging work force and a booming energy sector are going to pose a serious challenge for oil and gas companies looking for workers over the next few years, a new report says.

The Petroleum Human Resources Council of Canada  says the industry will have to fill at least 9,500 oil and gas jobs by 2015.

“We have moved from a world in which these work-force shortages were cyclical to where we think they’re chronic, so this is an issue we’re going to have with us for a long time and we’re going to have to work through for a long time,” said Tom Huffaker, vice-president for policy and environment at the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

The report says the energy industry is at risk of losing about three per cent of its work force overall because of persistently low natural gas prices. But it says growth in certain operations and age-related attrition will offset any job losses and lead to increased hiring needs.

“We had a bit of a reprieve with the downturn in that lots of people postponed their retirement plans,” explained Cheryl Knight, executive director and CEO of the petroleum council.

“Age is a factor that you just can’t tinker with too easily and we’ve seen how retirement rates are meeting what we would expect, so it is serious. It’s a loss of skilled and experienced workers and you just can’t replace that seasoned person with someone fresh out of school.”

The outlook projects employment in Alberta’s oil sands to jump by 29 per cent over 2011 levels, or roughly 5,850 oil and gas jobs. The pipeline sector will add about 530 jobs over the same time period.

The president of the Petroleum Services Association of Canada  says many companies still haven’t recovered from the 15,000 layoffs that occurred during the economic downturn in 2008 and 2009. “Simply put, there’s going to be no reprieve from the current hiring challenge in the oil and gas services,” said Mark Salkeld.

“We’ll need to hire more than 5,000 new workers by 2015. It’s a vibrant and very exciting industry and we’ve had challenges before and we’ll overcome them again.”

Ms. Knight said another hurdle to finding skilled workers is competition from the United States, South America and New Zealand. “They’ve launched concerted recruitment efforts here quite recently and that is quite a concern to us,” she said. “Oil and gas workers and professionals in Canada are regarded as being very highly trained and operating in a highly safe and efficient environmental environment so we’re challenged.”

The report focused on labour demand projections for 38 core occupations in the oil and gas industry within four industry sectors: exploration and production, oil sands, oil and gas services and pipeline.

The Canadian Press

850 jobs at risk as oil and gas jobs refinery closes

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An oil refinery which went bust is to close after administrators failed to find a buyer or the cash needed to keep it going, putting around 850 oil and gas jobs at risk.

The Coryton plant in Essex, which supplies 20% of fuel in London and the South East, was plunged into administration earlier this year by its Swiss owner Petroplus.

Administrators PwC said the site would be wound down over the next three months after the challenge of raising the £625 million needed to fund the refinery proved too much.

There are likely to be a “substantial” number of redundancies among the 500 workforce, PwC said, while around 350 contractors will learn their fate in the next few days.

There are seven other refineries in the UK – at South Killingholme and Lindsey, both in North Lincolnshire; Fawley, near Southampton; Grangemouth, near Falkirk; Stanlow in Cheshire; and Milford Haven and Pembroke, both in Pembrokeshire.

The other main supplier for the South East and London is the Exxon Mobil refinery at Fawley.

BP, a major customer of the Coryton refinery, said there were many alternative suppliers in the area, and added: “There will be no disruption to our customers.”

PwC entered into an arrangement in February which allowed operations to continue at the Coryton refinery while various restructuring and sale options were explored. Some 20 million barrels of oil have been refined in that time.

The administrator said this was unachievable against a backdrop of an “over-supplied” European refinery market for both buyers and investors.

PwC said it will now consult with both the trade union and the established staff representative group over their future.

It also warned that the closure was likely to have an impact on staff at two other locations – an oil storage site in Teesside and a research and development site in Swansea.

Steven Pearson, joint administrator and partner with PwC, said: “We have worked tirelessly to explore all feasible options for the refinery.

“We have had contact with over 100 possible investors and purchasers. We have been unable to reach a deal to date.

“The current financing market is exceptionally difficult – capital is short and expensive.”

PwC said it would continue discussions regarding a possible sale over the three months it will take to close the plant.

Close to the M25, the 586-acre Coryton refinery was bought by Petroplus from BP for 1.4 billion US dollars (£714.6 million) in June 2007.

The site became operational in 1953 and produced petrol and diesel, including new “cleaner” fuels, aviation fuels, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), fuel oils and bitumen.

The shutdown in January sparked fears of fuel shortages after the refinery halted all sales, before they were started again in February.

The refining market has come under pressure in recent years as operating expenses and the cost of crude oil surge at a greater rate than the value of the products.

A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said: “It is disappointing that PwC has been unable to find a buyer for Coryton. This is particularly bad news for the workers at Coryton.

I want to reassure people that there will not be any impact on fuel supply from this development.

“Continuing jetty operations at Coryton means that there should be no loss of supply through the terminal to London and the South East.”

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/850-jobs-at-risk-as-oil-refinery-closes-7793827.html

The Oil Company That Doesn’t Want to Create Too Many Jobs

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It is nearly impossible to read a pitch for expanding U.S. oil and gas production without being confronted with impressive estimates of how many oil and gas jobs it will create. Wood Mackenzie has estimated that expanded oil and gas production could support 1.4 million new jobs by 2030. Citigroup has claimed an upside potential of as many as 3.6 million jobs from new oil and gas production by 2020.

So I was surprised when I stumbled across this promise on the website for American Shale Oil (AMSO), which hopes to develop a commercial shale oil plant in Colorado:

Even at commercial stage, the AMSO process is estimated to require approximately 300 employees (to support a 100,000 barrels per day plant).

This isn’t a boast about how AMSO will create 300 oil and gas jobs – it’s a promise that it won’t create any more. What gives?

Many of the biggest prospects for U.S. oil development are in remote or low-population parts of the country that fiercely protect their way of life. They’re often thrilled to have development that lets local people find jobs, but they aren’t looking for a big influx of new workers who would fundamentally change their communities.

Take a look at North Dakota, the poster child these days for the wonders that oil production can do to combat unemployment. In 2006, right before the shale oil boom started, the North Dakota labor force numbered around 360,000. Had the state followed the rest of the country, it would have had unemployment around 8 percent, and about 30,000 people would have been looking for work. Instead, its unemployment rate is closer to 3 percent, and its labor force now totals 390,000 people, meaning that nearly 380,000 people have oil and gas jobs.

This suggests something striking: even had every one of those 30,000 people found a new job because of the oil boom, North Dakota would still have had to import more than 20,000 workers to meet demand. This sort of change can be enormously disruptive, particularly to those incapable of working in or profiting from the industry. Here’s some context: North Dakota has a population of 680,000; the biggest city even remotely near the oil fields has population 60,000; and the tenth largest town clocks in at a tiny 7,800 residents. There’s little reason to doubt that many North Dakotans would have actually been much happier with a boom that delivered half as many jobs, though there are, of course, many others who would be thrilled to see employment expand even more.

It shouldn’t be surprising, then, to find that people in would-be oil producing areas like northwestern Colorado have mixed feelings about big employment gains from new oil production. It’s important to keep this in mind when thinking through the forces that might shape future development. American Shale Oil promises that its “ unique process will not strain the local infrastructure”. There’s good reason to believe that it understands the complex politics of job creation better than some industry boosters in Washington do.

Source: http://blogs.cfr.org/levi/2012/05/24/the-oil-company-that-doesnt-want-to-create-jobs/

Thousands of jobs to be created in new oil boom

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THOUSANDS of new energy jobs are expected to be created by a record-breaking licensing round for North Sea oil and gas drilling.

The UK Government received 224 applications for 418 offshore blocks following the multibillion-pound boost the industry was given in the  Budget. The total is the biggest since offshore licensing began in 1964, and 37 more than the previous high in the last round in 2010.

The figures were revealed on the day that a leading oil industry expert hailed plans for an offshore windfarm near Aberdeen. Prof Alex Kemp said the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre had the potential to make Scotland “leaders in offshore wind”.

Source: The Press & Journal

Norwegian group creates 500 Aberdeenshire jobs

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NORWEGIAN energy services firm Aker yesterday unveiled plans to create 500 energy jobs in Aberdeenshire over the next two years, swelling its headcount in the region beyond the 3,000 mark.

The energy jobs boost, announced as part of First Minister Alex Salmond’s visit to Norway, will filter through over the next two years and comes on top of 350 jobs created since August.

Aker chief financial officer Leif Borge said demand for the company’s services was growing in both the North Sea and in international markets, fuelling the need to take on more staff.

Growth in Scotland is coming from the firm’s subsea and drilling technology businesses in Dyce and its Portlethen-based well intervention services unit.

About 2,700 of Aker’s 23,500 staff are based in Aberdeenshire, with a further team of 200 engineers in London

Salmond said: “Aker is one of Norway’s flagship companies, with extensive global operations and already a huge presence in Scotland. I am delighted it now plans further investment and job creation in the city, delivering a great boost for the North-east and wider Scottish economy.”

News of the jobs boost came as Inverness-based Global Energy Group announced plans to open a permanent office in Norway, having had a presence in the country for the past seven years.

The firm’s Global Project Services (GPS) division already works with Norwegian clients – including Aker, Kvaerner and Statoil – and has now secured premises near Bergen to build its business in the country.

Gavin Macdonald, managing director of GPS, said his firm was already working on major construction, maintenance and modification projects in the power generation sectors but said that the firm now needed to commit to opening a permanent office so that it can grow its business in Scandinavia.

12,000 oil and gas jobs added in two years, OERB study reports

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OKLAHOMA CITY  -  The industry added 12,000 oil and gas jobs in the last two years, according to a study released Wednesday commissioned by the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board.

The results of the study, done by The Steven C. Agee Economic Research and Policy Institute at Oklahoma City University, indicate one of six jobs in the state are in the industry, which employs 344,000.
The industry pays nearly $1 billion in direct gross production tax payments. Of that, $504 million comes from oil gross production and $459 million on natural gas.
The industry contributed $2.35 billion in federal personal income tax payments and $700 million in state personal income tax payments, the study found.
In the area of sales tax, it contributed $563 million, the study said. At the local level, in form of sales taxes to cities and counties, the figure was $503 million, the study said.
“All in all, the bottom line remains the same which is Oklahoma is very much an energy state, very much an oil and gas state that relies on the health of this industry to drive our secondary industries, like manufacturing, like business services and support,” said Russell Evans, executive director of The Steven C. Agee Economic Research and Policy Institute.

Read more at Tulsa World