More than half of oil and gas firms expect to grow their workforce in the next year

An oil platform in the North Sea as employers in the oil and gas industry expect recruitment to increase "significantly" in the next year. Picture: Danny Lawson/PA Wire Archant

Almost six in ten oil and gas employers expect a “significant” uptick in recruitment in the next year, a survey has revealed.

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The industry questionnaire also shows nearly half of bosses say wages are likely to rise by at least 5% over the coming 12 months.

It is estimated that more than 440,000 jobs have been cut in the sector worldwide since the oil crash of 2014.

Tig Gilliam, chief executive of specialist recruitment firm NES Global Talent, said: “Globally we are now increasingly confident that the market supports increased investment in the energy sector.

“Energy companies with the support of their partners have right-sized their organisations for the current levels of activity.

“With a stabilised price environment and lower cost profile more and more assets offer attractive returns on investment and operations.

“This increasing activity is leading the higher performing companies to refocus on recruiting quality people to lead and deliver value.”

A total of 3,000 employers responded to the survey, part of the Oil and Gas Outlook 2017 report, which signals a return in confidence since the oil price stabilising since July.

The paper showed close to 89% of those polled believe they are likely to keep staffing levels the same or recruit more over the next year, while close to 60% expect to bring in significantly more employees.

There were 23% who expect to increase their workforce by 5%, while almost a fifth said between 5% and 10%, and 17% anticipate it will go up by 10%.

Just under a third expect staffing levels to remain the same and 11% of employers said job cuts were likely.

This year the North Sea’s largest new oil project in a decade, Kraken, began flows and producers are bringing forward new projects like the Lancaster Field and Cheviot Field.

Lee Anderson, operations director at NES Global Talent, added: “North Sea prospects are looking brighter than they have been for several years. Confidence is now returning to the market.

“Although we are still at the very early stages of the recovery we are now seeing clients look at new development opportunities and further exploration in the North Sea.”

However, the figures from NES Global Talent and oilandgasjobsearch.com have been met with some scepticism.

RMT regional organiser Jake Molloy said it was “contrary” to what the union was seeing in the oil and gas industry.

He said: “I would treat this with extreme scepticism, there’s nothing from what we are seeing saying it’s going in that direction.

“In fact, we’re currently going through more redundancies and we know there are more to come.”