According to new research from analysts Rystad Energy, service companies are expected to start recruiting in the offshore industry again later this year, following a massive reduction from 2014-2016.
“Among the top 50 service companies, around 300,000 workers or 35% of the workforce (on- and offshore), were laid off since 2014," says Audun Martinsen, vice president of oilfield service research at Rystad Energy. "However, the negative trend is about to turn and over the last few months we have seen more job postings in North America from companies such as Weatherford, Nabors and Precision Drilling, among others. Last week, Halliburton announced its plan to add 2000 jobs to the pressure pumping and cementing business."
Rystad's report says that the offshore industry has been more resilient. "But, 2016 saw a larger step-up in downsizing," the firm says.
"FMC Technologies reduced its staff by 1000 as an initiative of cutting costs prior to the Technip merger, and in October 2016, Saipem revealed that 800 jobs needed to be cut in Europe," the analysts said. Recruitment is expected to increase once exploration and production spending increases. Rystad Energy expects shale-focused operators to increase their spending by 30% in 2017, while offshore spending will grow from 2018, associated with increased final investment decision (FID) activity.
“With more projects offshore being revived in 2017, we expect the offshore layoffs to stabilize. Already we see this trend in Norway and it is only a question of time before it starts elsewhere. The race for the best hands and brains has started in the industry and the companies that have laid off people in a responsible manner are likely to have a competitive edge going forward,” Martinsen says.
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