There can be no doubt that the regional oil and gas industry has made significant leaps in modernising upstream operations.
More importantly, unlike yesteryears, innovations in technologies, product development and operational methodologies, are happening indigenously, led by talented and spirited home-grown professionals.
Among the many things that establishes this fact is our Awards this year. The type of high-quality nominations that we have received for the various Awards categories, particularly for ‘Technical Innovation of the Year’, speak volumes of the impressive standard of research and development (R&D) activity being undertaken by various industry players.
Despite commendable efforts made by the regional oil and gas industry to enhance its level of technological competencies, the sector unfortunately continues to be perceived as one that allows little scope for implementation of technical concepts that have been embraced by other industries. While other sectors, such as aviation or automobiles, have largely digitised their functioning, the nature of oil and gas business is such that digitalisation can only account for a fraction of operations.
However, viewed from a different perspective, the oil and gas sector also enjoys the unique distinction of being an industry in which conventional upstream practices can co-exist with modern industrial technologies, like digitalisation and automation. Therefore, regional operators, now more than ever, have to stress on honing the skills of its existing workforce, and adequately train and absorb local talent, in order to facilitate overall progress of the industry.
Constantly training workers to implement new techniques and handle new products is crucial to the sector’s advancement. At a time when NOCs and IOCs are enforcing stringent measures to enforce operational excellence, the labour force, more than everything else, has to be equipped and trained to adopt these modern technologies and applications. The manpower also has to be equally ready to easily shift to different operational practices in these uncertain times.
However, along with skill development of the workforce in order to upgrade their skill sets and keep them abreast with advances in operational standards, importance must also be attached to attracting new local talent towards the industry. Young graduates have been known to shy away from a career in oil and gas, and it is vital for the industry to try and bring them into the fold, for the sake of securing its own future.
Simply inducting youngsters as engineers, technicians, field operators, and the likes, isn’t going to be enough. Industry stakeholders have to invest in nurturing the capabilities of its young staff to create leaders of tomorrow, as regional oil major ADNOC – the Knowledge Partner for this Special Report – is doing.Â
The regional oil and gas sector’s endeavour should be to train and develop a human resources base that is capable of solving the complex operational issues, engaging in R&D locally to boost the industry’s potential, and, when required, to assume leadership roles for the purpose of driving the sector forward in future.
(Next up: LinkedIn survey suggests demand for technical roles remains steady…)
