OGUK today announced it is conducting one of the industry’s biggest ever listening exercise as part of efforts to deliver a fair energy transition and achieve the Government’s net zero targets.
The UK’s leading body for the offshore oil and gas industry will launch a comprehensive programme of initiatives to hear directly from the tens of thousands of people employed by the changing industry across the UK.
This programme of engagement comes after OGUK recently agreed a landmark sector deal with the UK Government – the North Sea Transition Deal. The Deal is the first of its kind by any G7 country. It will safeguard many existing jobs, create 40,000 new cleaner energy jobs, strengthen the transition of skills and employees to an increasingly low-carbon environment, and harness the workforce’s expertise to dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions across a range of energy-intense UK sectors.
In 2019, OGUK led over 5,000 conversations with people working for operator and supply chain companies in an initiative that led to the delivery of the sector’s plan for the future: Roadmap 2035. OGUK today said that the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the recent downturn reinforced the need to continue to listen to issues and opportunities facing people as the sector urgently works to deliver a lower carbon future.
Amongst the initiatives are a survey of HR managers across the sector’s companies, focus groups of employees in a multitude of roles, digital roadshows explaining and updating employees on the North Sea Transition Deal, as well as direct communications to people across the sector.
OGUK Supply Chain and Operations Director, Katy Heidenreich, said:
“The oil and gas sector’s expertise will be crucial to the UK’s energy security and economy for many decades to come. Firstly, for the continuing oil and gas that we know is essential to keep the country running. Secondly, to roll out the cleaner energy technologies needed for the UK to hit the net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
“The industry’s skilled workforce are key to us achieving all of this. That’s why we’re announcing this major workforce listening and engaging exercise. We’ll be having a two-way dialogue with employees at every level across the sector. This will make sure that the transition is shaped directly by the people and communities who will be most affected by it.
“This will also help us continually refine the plans to develop the diverse energy mix we know the UK is going to need up to 2050 and beyond.”
The findings from the engagement exercise will inform key asks in the North Sea Transition Deal and will be set out in OGUK’s Workforce Report in the autumn of this year.
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