by MICHAEL KNIPE
A senior Saudi Aramco official warned yesterday that the petroleum industry is facing a tremendous skills shortage which, if goes unchecked will undermine its ability to meet world demands.
"As our workforce ages we fall short of young engineers to take their place," the company's senior vice-president for exploration and production Abd Alla S Al Saif said.
"Nearly half of our workforce is less than 30 years of age. Furthermore, surveys suggest that in the next few years more than 60 per cent of our engineers will have less than 10 years of experience.
"The required young professionals were difficult to find," he said.
Enrolments in university programmes were declining as young people were opting for other fields for job opportunities.
A senior Saudi Aramco official warned yesterday that the petroleum industry is facing a tremendous skills shortage which, if goes unchecked will undermine its ability to meet world demands.
"As our workforce ages we fall short of young engineers to take their place," the company's senior vice-president for exploration and production Abd Alla S Al Saif said.
"Nearly half of our workforce is less than 30 years of age. Furthermore, surveys suggest that in the next few years more than 60 per cent of our engineers will have less than 10 years of experience.
"The required young professionals were difficult to find," he said.
Enrolments in university programmes were declining as young people were opting for other fields for job opportunities.
"Reaching out to top students should therefore be a top priority for our industry."
Mr Al Saif was speaking at the opening ceremony of the 15th Middle East Oil and Gas Show at Bahrain International Exhibition Centre.
The conference runs until Wednesday.
Overcoming the skills shortfall would take time as it was a problem ignored for decades.
Mr Al Saif said there were three key areas where the industry had to do more. In addition to attracting a new generation of talented professionals, it had to spend more on research and the development of new technology and become more efficient and effective in executing its strategies and to do so in a more environmentally-friendly way.
The theme of conference is "delivering energy: faster, better and smarter" and the Aramco vice-president was one of four leading figures of the oil industry to address the plenary session.
Other speakers included, Andrew Gould, chairman and chief executive of Schlumberger, one of the world's leading oilfield services companies, Chad Deaton, chairman and chief executive of Baker Hughes, the world's third-largest oilfield services company, and Stephen Cassiani, president of upstream research at ExxonMobil, the world's largest publicly traded energy company.
Mr Deaton emphasised the need for the industry to be faster and smarter in adopting new technology.
Downhole drilling dynamics, inflow control devices and intelligent well systems were first introduced more than 10 years ago and were creating tremendous value for operators today, he said.
But it had taken a long time for them to be adopted by the industry.
"The industry also had to be committed to placing its knowledge transfer and training resources closer to the centres of exploration and productivity, which was increasingly focused on the Eastern Hemisphere."
That, he said, was why Baker Hughes had decided to establish a major campus in Dubai.
Mr Gould said many young people believe that supplies of oil were nearly exhausted and were reluctant to enter an industry that would end before they reached retirement age.
"We have to convince them that we are a long, long way from exhausting our oil supplies and that they will have a long life in the industry," he said
On the subject of global warming, Mr Cassiani said alternative energy supplies may gradually be introduced but oil and gas would still be significant for many years in the future.
It was clear, however, he added, that people wanted environmental issues addressed.
l Oil and Gas Affairs Minister Dr Abdulhussain Mirza yesterday received Saudi Aramco president Abdullah Juma and discussed co-operation. Gulf Daily News
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