Hansard

I pay tribute to the workers who make the oil and gas industry a success. Many of them work onshore in back-up and planning roles but, given the real personal risk and inconvenience that they undergo, we must especially recognise the contribution of those who work offshore.

We are approaching the 25-year anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster, in which 167 people lost their lives, with many more directly impacted. The lives of those who survived or who lost loved ones were changed immediately. Since then, much has changed. Safety is now given the highest priority—and rightly so—but that does not mean that dangers do not exist. Indeed, recent helicopter incidents have brought home the risks to us.

I was lucky enough to visit the Elgin-Franklin platform as a guest of Oil & Gas UK and Total—the details of my visit are in my entry in the register of members’ interests. The platform worked with extremely high pressures and, subsequent to my visit, developed a gas leak. Having visited the platform, I can only imagine the real concern that such an incident caused and the grave risks involved.

In preparation for the visit, we had to attend a helicopter safety training course. Although it forms only a small part of the training that personnel usually undertake, I found it a real eye-opener to the risks involved. Being submerged upside-down in a swimming pool and having to find one’s way out of the vehicle were pretty challenging, although the training took place in a very safe environment compared with the North Sea itself. One can hardly imagine the reality of ditching, which is why the recent problems with offshore transportation helicopters are extremely worrying.

Constituents have expressed to me concerns about their work. Because of the lack of transportation to rigs, workers have been unable to get to work and are suffering financial hardship. I know that the industry is looking at the problem with helicopters and is exploring alternative forms of transportation, but given the hostile environments in which oil and gas platforms are situated it is difficult to see a safer solution. Nevertheless, the situation emphasises the vulnerability of the workforce to such changes and steps must be taken to ensure that they do not suffer hardship while the safety issues are—rightly—being dealt with.

Wider safety in the oil and gas industry is every worker’s business, and the trade unions have pushed safety to the top of the agenda through the utilisation of safety representatives. They have also made sure that safety is a priority for every worker. Research commissioned by OPITO shows that learning enhances employees’ commitment to safety. The trade union movement has also promoted training and the development of skills within the workforce. Unfortunately, despite the issue’s importance, the oil and gas industry still has a way to go, although Nigg might be bucking the trend by taking the issue of in-house training very seriously.

During the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee’s recent inquiry into renewable energy, one of the renewables industry’s common complaints was that although it was investing in skills the oil and gas industry was not and that because of the skills shortage in the engineering field many of its skilled personnel were being poached by the oil and gas industry where higher wages are available. In its briefing for the debate, Aberdeen city and shire economic future highlights Subsea UK’s estimate that the oil and gas sector will require a further 10,000 employees over the next five years, while a PricewaterhouseCoopers report has suggested that Aberdeen might have to find another 120,000 workers by 2022—regardless of what will be a natural decline in the industry because of finite resources.

We are facing a skills shortage in engineering, and the industry, as well as the Government, has a role to play in addressing the problem. The industry must look at how it accommodates apprentices offshore and grow its own workforce.

The industry has an ageing workforce and needs to act now to ensure that it has adequate skills into the future. It needs to show that it is an ideal career choice for women, too. When I visited the Elgin-Franklin platform, one of the people who showed us around the rig and explained all the processes was a woman. She was proof—if anyone needed it—that that lifestyle suits women.

Oil and gas companies in particular need to reach out to women because they can help to fill the skills shortage in the industry. The Government has a role to play in that regard. As we saw in the Scottish Women’s Convention’s report into rural issues, women were concerned that their daughters were being discouraged from taking science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects at school. In order to break down gender barriers we need to start at school. We also need to ensure that engineering courses are available. Cuts in college funding are not conducive to that, and neither are caps on the number of students entering degree-level engineering studies.

Skills must be at the forefront as new oil and gas fields provide even more challenges—the industry is moving into more hostile and deeper waters to access fields that are increasingly difficult to reach. Indeed, as the minister acknowledged in his opening speech, it will take new technologies and skills to bring onshore the reserves that are available. We must have highly trained people to ensure that those technologies are robust, given the disasters that can be wrought by oil spillages. We are all more than aware of the problems caused by the Deepwater Horizon and the impact on many communities. We cannot afford to risk the occurrence of similar incidents, especially in our waters. Skills and a stable workforce are crucial to the industry.

The new challenges require fiscal stability. I am glad that the minister acknowledged that, because companies need to plan ahead and develop new fields and technologies—a point that was stressed in Oil & Gas UK’s briefing for the debate. It is therefore important that the Scottish Government is clear about its fiscal regime for oil and gas should Scotland leave the UK. While it pursues its goal of independence, the Government must ensure that, during the campaign and this period of uncertainty, the industry has clarity to enable it to develop. For example, it is unclear whether the Government’s proposed oil fund will be top sliced from existing taxation—indeed, it is unclear whether levels of taxation will remain comparable to those in the rest of the UK—or whether a new tax will be levied on the industry.

Decommissioning is another issue. What might be the fiscal regime for decommissioning in an independent Scotland? Would decommissioning relief contracts entered into by the UK Government be honoured in Scotland if it were no longer part of the UK?

Those questions need to be answered as quickly as possible so that the industry’s priorities are not skewed. Failure to answer them will cause instability, hinder development and possibly lead to the early decommissioning of fields.