Dubai: The offshore sector faces a looming skills gap, warns a top name in recruitment today.
Speaking with Maritime CEO, George Gourlay, ceo of Dubai-based OCB Oilfield Services, warns the oil price rout could wipe out a vast seam of much needed experience in offshore.
“What we will see is the older generation move towards retirement at a much earlier age than planned, which will potentially leave a huge skills gap,” Gourlay predicts.
The fall in oil prices has already seen more than 300,000 people laid off in the past 12 months.
Unsurprisingly, Gourlay relays that supply far outweighs demand at the moment when it comes to offshore manpower needs.
Moreover, clients are looking to cut all possible costs. “As with the rest of the supply chain in O&G,” Gourlay says, “we are feeling pricing pressures and all clients are requesting discounted rates in existing and new contracts.”
OCB, founded in 1999, was bought out in 2013 by private equity firm, Gulf Capital. Last week OCB completed buying out Kuiper International, its first acquisition, as part of a four year expansion plan to increase its business value by 300%.
Kuiper International, established in 2010 and headquartered in Singapore, is a provider of personnel and technical support services to offshore oil and gas construction and maintenance sectors.
“We are currently investigating two further acquisitions for 2016,” Gourlay reveals to Maritime CEO.
