Skilled labour, the stumbling block
By Aretha Welch
Trinidad Express
Port Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
06 24 07
San Fernando was once called the oil capital of
Trinidad and Tobago. Today it has grown into the
home of a booming upstream and downstream energy
industry, producing methanol, ammonia, liquefied
petroleum gas and crude oil refining.
By 1955, almost 80 per cent of San Fernando's
population held jobs in the oil fields or refineries
providing man power to an expanding energy sector.
As the industry continues to further expand, it
has hit a major stumbling block within recent times
- an acute shortage of skilled labour.
What started as a local oil city only known internationally
because it was one of the main suppliers of fuel
World War II, has now grown into an official world
energy city. It claimed a place as a formidable
player on the international scene by becoming a
member of the World Energy City Partnership Initiative
(WECP) in May 2004.
While
San Fernando and its surrounding industrial sites,
such as the Point Lisas Industrial Estate,
Point-a-Pierre Oil Refinery and the Union Estate
at La Brea are equipped to ensure T&T's industrial
reign as one of the most prosperous countries in
the Caribbean, a lack of man power is hurting the
industry.
Thackwray
Driver, CEO of The South Chamber of Industry
and Commerce, said: "For the last
five or six years, the majority of energy service
companies identified problems with attracting and
retaining staff in key skill areas." A 2006
survey also showed that 80 per cent of the energy
service companies reported difficulties in securing
labourers. Manpower issues were identified as the
number one problem facing the local energy sector.
There are over 1000 positions in the industry that
need to be filled at present.
"It's not just the local sector though, it's
a world wide shortage of skilled personnel," said
Driver. The seeds of this problem were sowed in
the mid 1980s and 1990s following the 1973 oil
crisis which illustrated the instability of the
energy business. "There has been a big decline
in the number of people rushing towards the industry
or training for positions as the oil shortage and
subsequent oil price inflation and laying off of
workers had the industry topsy turvy."
He also explained that European and American environmentalists
have many young people in the regions shunning
the industry as they believe fuel exhaust fumes
and oil spillages are responsible for harming the
environment and contributing to global warming.
Some individuals who have not done their research
also may see safety as an issue, but because of
the nature of the chemicals dealt with in the energy
business, the safety and health of workers are
always taken into consideration.
He said that in these modern times there is no
reason why safety issues should be a deterrent
for those wanting to enter the industry.
"However, many Europeans and Americans don't
want jobs in the industry, that's why Trinidadian
nationals should jump on the energy band wagon,
because their is so much space both on the international
and local scene for workers. The T&T Government
also has been making a big effort to train people
in the field within the last few years. The shortage
has been acknowledged and the National Energy Skills
Centre (NESC), the University of Trinidad and Tobago
(UTT) and UWI have been developing the human resources
needed to fill the cracks in the energy and industrial
sectors."
In
the meantime however, Driver said the costs of
running the industry and securing personnel
are excessively high. "Skilled persons can
demand their salary and we have little room for
refusal because there is such a shortage. Private
service companies also have to import labour from
Venezuela, Colombia and some European countries.
Foreigners are not necessarily paid more than locals
but the cost of importing and settling them here
does add to the finances."
He
said the high price of labour contributes to
inflated oil prices globally. "It also affects
the pace at which things are done. Since the shortage,
there has been an increase in the amount of time
it takes to develop oil and gas extraction sites.
Though new sites may be found, the lack of engineers
and project managers makes progress slow."
Driver
said more apprenticeships had to be offered in
the industry if the problem was to be eradicated. "That's
how many people in the 1960s and 1970s got involved.
The South Chamber and the Government are working
on that issue actively, hoping to recruit young
workers."
The Oreo Effect
"Though
as a industry and nation we
are
recruiting and pumping large sums of money into
training young people, to a large extent it
is not the young recruits that are lacking but
more or less the middle management," said
Driver.
He said petroleum and gas companies had lots of
managers with years of experience to fill top positions
and new recruits coming out of the engineering
faculty at the University of the West Indies, UTT
and NESC but no people with the right amount of
skills for middle management because during the
80s and mid 90s there was no one willing to come
into the industry because many were viewing the
industry as extremely unstable.
"Now,
there is an Oreo effect, a hard, well-experienced,
skilled upper crust and a fresh, mentally able
bottom layer but a soft, inadequate centre to fill
in the gaps due to the shortage of experienced
in recent years."
An
employee of BP who has worked with the company
for 33 years said, "The nature of work also
has changed within the last three decades and this
is affecting all businesses including the energy
industry."
He
said that in the last few years workers came
and went as contracts ended. "People are much
more mobile and it's hard to tie workers down,
especially workers that are in high demand, because
there is always another company waiting to offer
a bigger contract or better benefits," he
added.
Young Blood
The lack of project managers, mechanical, chemical
and electrical engineers, technicians, mechanics,
down hole tool operators, certified blasters and
qualified foremen and extraction crews has increased
the opportunities for engineering graduates to
hit the ground running in the sector, once they
leave school with degrees in hand. In 2004, the
first handful of petroleum engineering graduates
emerged from the St Augustine, UWI campus with
a vast sea of jobs, positions and opportunities
flowing at their feet.
Hoping to turn over well oiled technical minds
that would take the local energy industry to the
next level, the school prepared new facilities
for the Geoscience and Petroleum Engineering students
in 2004.
When
the Petroleum and Geoscience Bsc degree programme
began, campus principal Dr. Bhoe Tewarie said it
was introduced following many requests from the
local energy industry, "particularly the upstream
hydrocarbon industries and the Geological Society
of Trinidad and Tobago."
He
said it was both a practical and theoretical
programme aimed at creating workers who can contribute
to the growth and development of the Caribbean
industrial market. "It was formulated with
a great deal of input from individuals and companies
already working in the energy sector."
Energy
sector stakeholders such as the Government of
Trinidad and Tobago, bpTT, BHP Billiton, British
Gas, EOG Resources and the National Gas Company
were named among the main supporters of the programme
which was marked as "a significant contribution
to the economy of Trinidad and Tobago."
Trinidad
Express
Wednesday, June 13th 2007
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©2007 Trinidad Express. All Rights Reserved.
