ROD DEAN'S 2006 REVIEW

<< 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | page 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16
17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 >>

E & C Hydrocarbon Review - The Global view from Europe. Looking back on 2006 & ahead to 2007.

The low hanging fruit areas are off-shore engineering and work sharing, global sourcing of equipment and materials and off site preassembly and modularisation?

Most of us probably believe that the current hot market environment is likely a medium to long term shift, although most companies have recognised this but have not changed their approach to major projects. Without change, projects are at risk of cost increases, schedule slippages and quality problems. Contractors still have to deliver project value in the current environment. Benefits include ability to pursue growth plans by attracting the best E&C resources and to deliver projects successfully.

My soap box will be put away for the moment but I thought it appropriate to review the global conditions that our clients and contractors are operating under and the challenges that we face and the dragons that must be slain if we are to be successful and build for the future.

I will now specifically look at Europe and the UK generally with a specific focus on the E & C companies located in this region, which when you tot up the numbers is still the major region for global key resource numbers and is in the most favourable geographical position for executing projects in Europe, Africa and the Middle East and even Australia when you compare location with the USA.

There is no doubt that resource levels, both numbers and quality has been the major challenge for the UK E & C industry in the past year and it has to be said that the industry has faced up to this challenge in a very effective way. Last year I felt that the problems we were facing were similar to those 40- 50 years ago, but in those days it was a growing industry and new staff were pouring into the business to earn the higher than average salaries and to visit places with strange sounding names.

One of the big surprises this year has been the increase in total staff numbers in the UK E & C industry - where have they come from? There has been the usual ebb and flow of agency staff from contractor to contractor as their workforces move up and down to match the start and completion of major projects.

Major companies have looked outside to related industries to hire project controls, procurement, engineering and even some project managers. In order to continue to recruit quality engineers from other industries, we need initiatives that will communicate with and aim to attract engineers in industries such as manufacturing, aerospace, marine and construction.

Additionally we have been able to locate several hundred international staff who relocated to the UK. The process normally takes three months from initial contact to walking through the door but these efforts coupled with numbers of ‘veterans’ and new hires from other industries has enabled the UK to increase staffing by approximately 2,500 staff in the past 12 months.

There is much more needed to be done as we face up to the acute skills shortage facing the UK oil and gas industry and stark warnings have been issued about the real threat to our industry that unless more professional engineers and graduates are recruited and trained we are facing tough times. The numbers of graduates joining the industry however has never been higher and if the industry can hold onto 70% of the new starters this will help the industry in the future. Construction skills and numbers are continuing to erode and it has been noticeable recently that for major UK projects a number of European construction workers have been shipped in to execute the major workload increase in the UK based construction work (3 LNG Receiving Terminals, Gas Storage Facilities, Power and related plants plus various other facilities). It is also evident that the UK no longer has the trained construction staff to work on international construction projects so the need to train local staff for construction supervisory positions has never been greater - as highlighted in my opening remarks.

<< 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | page 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16
17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 >>

Tel: +44 (0)1256 356 565 | Fax: +44 (0)1256 812864 | opportunities@lingmanagement.com