Fraser Heggie, chief technical officer for global hazardous area services provider Eutex discusses the impact the loss of an aging workforce has on the global skills bank and how it is accelerating in-country training across MENA and Asia. Fraser has been based in Singapore for the past decade.

Fraser Heggie, chief technical officer for global hazardous area services provider, Eutex, has been based in Singapore for 10 years. He discusses the impact the loss of an aging workforce has on the global skills bank and how it is accelerating in-country training across MENA and Asia.  

To say that the past eight or so years have been testing ones for the energy industry is an understatement. A prolonged period of downturn which saw oil prices tumble had a severe impact right across the oil and gas sector. As we moved towards recovery, we were hit by a global pandemic.  

Two years later, as we emerge from that, we are seeing a steady resurgence in business thanks to the current price of a barrel of oil and the renewables sector taking off on a rapid upward trajectory. 

While that’s good news for business, it does leave many sectors of the industry with a specific challenge, and that’s the shrinking pool of competent, skilled staff who have the experience to take this boom in business forward.  

Skills shortages exist particularly in technical roles, for us that translates into a shortage of electrical technicians who have experience of working in hazardous areas, where a sound knowledge of the environment they work in is crucial. Those shortages exist both in the oil and gas sector where our core business lies, and in the emerging hydrogen sector which has the same commonalities when it comes to working with electrical equipment in potentially explosive environments. Still a relatively new field of energy supply, hydrogen will present an enormous global skills shortage across all levels of safe production, storage, distribution and use. 

There are several reasons for these shortages. Uppermost is the loss of an aging, but highly experienced workforce, who after years of instability in the price of oil price and a drop in wages, followed by the challenges of Covid, decided enough was enough and decided it was time to leave the industry for good. 

The covid-imposed restrictions on travel also had a noted impact on the skills gap across Asia and MENA. That, and the reduced availability of experienced personnel, has changed how operators and supply chain companies have approached the training and mentoring of young technicians across Singapore, Thailand, the UAE and elsewhere.
 
The upcoming generation of exciting young talent which is developing in each of these countries is eager to learn, keen and ready to work. But youth and enthusiasm are no substitute for experience, expertise and an instinct which has been honed over the years in a high-risk environment where there is no room for error.  

The right training provides an invaluable foundation, but practical experience has to be gained and we need to look at short to medium term solutions until these young technicians gain more experience. 

As a globally positioned company Eutex, like many others, has adapted and changed how we do things. Pre-pandemic, we would have brought experienced personnel, who had developed years of experience globally, to coach and share their expertise with up and coming young in-country technicians, mentoring them on a one-to-one basis, passing on their years of knowledge to the next generation.  

Over the past couple of years, that hasn’t been possible, so we’ve adapted our approach. We now provide on-line mentoring support and coaching where face to face is no longer possible. That ensures that while the next generation of electrical technicians are building up their own depth of knowledge they will always have access to someone they can contact for advice, who can point them in the right direction. 

There are other advantages. Companies operating on a global basis, are working hard to reduce their reliability on foreign workers, turning their attention instead to an increased focus on recruiting, training and developing local talent.  

That has accelerated the commitment they are making towards supporting nationalisation policies across the region, further growing and developing strong relationships with the people they work with and in the countries in which they operate. 

Building a workforce which predominantly comprises local content will be crucial in the continuing growth of the energy sector, and we work closely with key clients to support nationalisation initiatives which are narrowing the skills gap. 

The loss of knowledge we are seeing offshore is not unlike the loss of skilled tradesmen working in other sectors, where an experienced workforce is often being replaced by automation. 

But automation isn’t a feasible option for the type of work we do, a machine can’t walk up and down steps, pull cable into place and wire it up properly, so it can’t be a fallback or substitute for skilled, experienced personnel. 

So we have to look at other options including how we can adapt some of products we use, such as cables, types of cable glands and junction boxes to make installation easier and more straight forward.  

Advances in technology have brought huge benefits right across the energy industry, particularly in recent years, but to some extent, that comes with a price and that’s how we ensure that the training that’s being provided today keeps up with the technology that’s developed tomorrow.  

Being ready for the future needs a new approach and adapting to ever changing requirements demands an agility and willingness to continue to look at how we can do things better or differently. The loss of a generation of skills will be keenly felt across the industry. Our challenge is to bring on the next generation while ensuring that safety is always the number one priority and at the forefront of all we do.