Transitioning from oil and gas into other renewable energy sectors

Since the oil and gas industry slump started one year ago as many as 70,000 oil-related jobs have been lost and this number could double or almost treble in the future. Shell recently announced a 30 percent drop in annual profits resulting in 10,000 job cuts across the globe, and BP is expected to make significant worldwide cuts too as details emerged of one in five North Sea jobs facing cuts.

The Scottish government are doing what they can to take control of the situation and have introduced a £12 million fund to help affected employees retrain. The skilled workforce within this sector can take up grants which will enable them to retrain or transition into relevant roles within other renewable energy or manufacturing industries.

Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon believes it is crucial to retain the expertise of these skilled workers in order to capitalise on exploration investment in the future. One way of doing this is by encouraging these industry experts to undertake training that will allow them to utilize their current skill set and build others which could be beneficial to other energy sectors. The funding will help workers with the cost of maintaining their various licenses for these specialist jobs. It will also support bodies like Skills Development Scotland, Energy Skills Partnership and Energy Technology Partnership to provide the necessary training to meet the demand of specialist jobs in other sectors.

“I have announced a new £12 million Transition Training Fund to provide financial support to individuals as they retrain or undertake new education.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon

Although not all of this is very well received, as a lot of Scots are questioning exactly what they can retrain to become or which industries they could secure work in. Many are skeptical about the opportunities out there for them and then there are few who are also considering the cost implications of working in other industries, as working in oil and gas has been lucrative for them.

It is interesting to note the similarities between the oil and gas and other renewable energy industries as this is where the key may lie to finding a rewarding career outside of oil and gas. There are considerable similarities between power generation and wind energy to the oil and gas industry and workers in these sectors will be familiar with the challenges and issues of working with heavy loads, whether it is working on the rig platforms in the North Sea or with 328 ft industrial work turbines.

Although technical and engineering roles are the jobs we typically think of in the oil and gas industry, many other careers within this sector such as crane drivers, mechanics, geologists, lawyers and accountants will be able to transition into most other sectors with ease.

If you currently work in the oil and gas industry and are interesting in finding out about other opportunities where your skill set may lie, then we would love to hear from you to discuss this in more detail.