Oil and gas operators have expressed concern over the ageing of the industry�s workforce, without attendant replacements.
The problem, although a global phenomenon, has become more of a challenge to the Nigerian environment, especially as it is estimated that 50 per cent of the industry�s workforce will retire within the next 10 years and with new entrants from the Asian economies coming into the sector.
The challenge becomes even more tasking in view of the increasing quest to fuel economic growth in a sustainable way by searching and extracting new reserves to meet rising energy demand.
The Managing Director, Shell Petroleum Development Company, Mr. Basil Omiyi, spoke of the challenges before the industry in tackling the problem, in a lecture on �Resourcing for the Future (Energy Sector), delivered at the 4th Annual Aret Adams Lecture Series in Lagos on Thursday.
Omiyi, also the Country Chairman, Shell Companies in Nigeria, noted, �Fifty per cent of the oil exploration and production staff is between 40 and 50 years old; 15 per cent are junior recruits between 25 and 35 years old; and 50 per cent of the workforce will retire in 10 years.�
Filling the gap for a high-tech industry that still had between 30 and 50 years, he said, has become a big challenge to operators, as �replenishing the right people in the right places will be vital to protecting the future sustainability of the energy industry.�
Against the foregoing, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant to endow a professorial seats in some Nigerian universities.
These are the Shell-Aret Adams Chair of Petroleum Engineering in the Department of Petroleum and Gas Engineering, University of Port Harcourt; Environmental Science both at the University of Port-Harcourt and the Rivers State University of Science and Technology in Port- Harcourt; Geology at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka; Geophysics at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; Mechanical Engineering at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan.
Shell, in 1992, had inaugurated professorial chairs for the advancement of five disciplines through research and teaching, with the objectives of promoting teaching and research in universities, enhancing the quality of graduates in the selected disciplines, and enhancing technological development in Nigeria.
Omiyi, who was represented by SPDC�s Business Director, Mr. Demola Adeyemi-Bero, also observed that there was no succour for the ageing industry as technical skills were equally diminishing in many western countries.
He added that the key to meeting the challenge was to develop a new and innovative resourcing strategies and mindsets by exploring the recruitment opportunities offered both locally and from the emerging talent markets of Africa, India, China and Russia.