The challenge facing the Middle East oil and gas industry today is immense: it needs to develop new techniques for extracting and processing oil from increasingly challenging reservoirs; establish an international presence through exploring new growth markets; maximise production and operational efficiency, and implement aggressive workforce Nationalisation targets.
The develÂopment of skilled, talented and well-equipped leaders is a multi-faceted process that requires long-term investment in time and resources to be successful. Many International Oil Companies (IOCs) have substantially cut back on talent programs, hoping to ride out the storm.
However, National Oil Companies (NOCs) in the region have an additional socio-political agenda to fulfil, which prevents them from mothballing talent programmes in the same way. The region’s NOCs are required to take a longer-term view of the development of a pool of potential talented nationals, who should be prepared to assume critical leadership positions.
In spite of the obvious need and long term benefits of developing local talent for NOCs, talent development budgets are currently under pressure. NOCs are becoming significantly more discerning about how to spend their talent budgets.
Companies prefer to invest in professional qualifications and high-potential talent programmes; they are shifting more courses to local and regional, rather than international venues. More emphasis is being placed on the quality and desired outcome of development, particularly in the UAE, and anecdotal evidence suggests better learning outcomes are being achieved as training – and trainees – are far more focused.
About:
Paul Navratil is a partner in charge of PwC’s Middle East energy practice, with over 20 years of experience in providing professional advisory services to the energy industry.
