Home » Posts tagged 'cut-backs'

Tag Archives: cut-backs

Olduvai
Click on image to purchase

Olduvai III: Catacylsm
Click on image to purchase

Post categories

Post Archives by Category

The Real Long Term Threat To The Oil & Gas Industry

August 26, 2015

The Real Long Term Threat To The Oil & Gas Industry

As oil prices continue their downward slide, most investors and firms are understandably eyeing prices, revenues, and exploration costs nervously. All that makes sense, as there is a good chance some oil firms will face liquidity crunches and restructuring over the next year. In the longer term though, there is another specter that could be equally damaging to O&G firms – a shortage of skilled labor.

During the 2008 Recession, many manufacturing firms cut way back on labor and costs everywhere they could, as demand plummeted and customers started asking for lower prices. Fast forward a few years though, and demand has returned. What has not returned are many of the skilled laborers that were instrumental to the manufacturing industry’s success. Many of the industry’s best workers moved on to other fields or retired in the intervening years since the Recession. As a result, manufactures complain frequently about a lack of available skilled labor. The same thing could happen in the O&G industry.

Related: UK Determined To Realize Its Fracking Dreams

Oil and gas executives already lament the lack of proper training being done by colleges and universities for entry level employees. The exodus from the industry is only going to exacerbate that problem. Every field in the O&G space from geologists on down, is seeing layoffs and cut-backs. In the short term, these actions might be unavoidable. But if the downturn continues for more than a year or so, many of these workers may move on to new fields. If that happens, the industry could find that those workers are lost for good.

 

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Olduvai IV: Courage
Click on image to read excerpts

Olduvai II: Exodus
Click on image to purchase

Click on image to purchase @ FriesenPress