The clock is ticking to save as many as 95,000 potential offshore energy jobs, research has warned.
Robert Gordon University highlighted how the UK’s offshore energy workforce can grow by as much as 50% by the end of the decade. This would see it climb from 150,000 today to 225,000 by 2030. This would also mean that new renewable jobs outnumber oil and gas roles, though this is of course dependent on a successful transition being achieved and that is far from a given right now.
Investment and activity in renewables in the UK needs to ramp up though, in the short-term, retaining the offshore oil and gas supply chain, its workforce and associated skills for the next five years is key. A managed and just transition will see the oil and gas workforce fall from 120,000 today to 87,000 by 2030, whereas a more rapid approach could see it drop to 60,000. This is because the UK’s offshore renewables sector will not have the capacity to host and accommodate the quantity of skilled oil and gas workers set to be impacted by the expected fall in the hydrocarbon sector until later this decade.
Further key findings include that of the £200bn spend in the UK’s offshore energy system expected over the rest of the decade, close to 90% (£175bn) is set to be spent in the supply chain. A new workforce model will emerge, where future jobs are concentrated around key energy clusters in the UK. The workforce will be more transient. It will have an increased focus on capex and vocational work, meaning people move from project to project across the country.
It noted how around 70% of all jobs in the UK’s offshore energy sector are to fall under the top five job families in the industry of operations, engineering, technicians, projects and procurement, and supply chain management. It also drew on the potential impact on Scotland’s offshore energy workforce, which could grow by 25%, rising from 79,000 to almost 100,000 if ambitions are successfully realised. However, failure to capture the full range of opportunities lying in wait could see Scotland’s offshore energy workforce drop below 50,000 by 2030.
