The oil and gas industry – particularly at the highest echelons – is overwhelmingly white and male.

North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) CEO Stuart Payne lamented this situation at a speech in September. He talked about the characters who would write the “next chapter” of the story of the North Sea.

Payne noted he had chaired a roundtable with the new minister in August, with 15 people in attendance from industry.

“Only one of those was a woman. Everyone was white. This isn’t just a glib, ‘woke’ observation. I don’t raise this to make me feel better,” he said. “It matters. It matters because the challenges this industry needs to overcome to deliver the transition are hard.”

To accomplish the gargantuan task of transforming the North Sea’s energy industry, of cutting carbon, of decommissioning, of supporting new industries, will require new thinking.

Trying to “do these things without the best talent and a diverse and inclusive workforce is like trying to win with only half the squad available”. It was, Payne said, a call to action. The industry must “up our game in how we appeal to talent from all different backgrounds to come and work in this sector, especially talented professionals early in their careers”.

Core industry needs

But oil and gas production is declining, as is demand. The NSTA – and others in the area – face a challenge of how to attract the diverse dynamic cast, whilst managing hydrocarbon decline.

Given the new government’s plans around the Energy Profits Levy (EPL), new investments in oil and gas will struggle. As such, the decline is likely to accelerate.

The industry faces “some of the biggest and most complex engineering projects ever faced in the North Sea”, according to OEUK. The group has reported North Sea oil and gas production falling by 7% per year.

In his speech, Payne said the rate of decline was not set in stone. To deliver the NSTA’s forecasts, the basin will require additional investment.

“If we get the transition wrong, the decline could be much more rapid,” he said. Production would continue from the “older, dirtier” assets, while new investments in lower carbon developments, would not go ahead.

“It means that world class supply chain dwindling or moving abroad, just at the time we need it to deliver the energy transition,” he said.

The NSTA performs well in terms of gender diversity. There is an equal mix of genders on its board and its workforce is 48% female.

The wider sector, though, does not perform so well. POWERful Women’s annual State of the Nation report revealed that in the UK’s energy sector, 20% of companies had no women on their boards.

There are certain careers that skew gender balances. For instance, women made up only 14.5% of engineers in the UK in 2021.

While the NSTA has made sterling progress in bringing more women into the organisation, it is still 89% white.

Decommissioning delays and rewards

Decommissioning was a particular area of note for the NSTA. “Safe, cost-effective decommissioning is a massive technical, commercial and behavioural challenge,” he told E-FWD. “We’ll only get it right if we have the best talent engaged and listened to, which means diverse teams and an inclusive culture.”

The NSTA has described decommissioning as a “multibillion-pound opportunity” for the UK economy and supply chain.

Framing it as “end of life” potentially misses a trick. The industry might do well to consider a degree of circularity, creating a link between the hydrocarbons of today and the carbon capture and storage (CCS) of the future.

Gaining insights over how decommissioning will work out is also important. A clear pipeline of work would help control costs.

Payne noted the well P&A work was the largest single share of decommissioning, accounting for around 50%.

“But if rigs continue to leave the basin because they don’t have a clear sight of upcoming work, these costs will only increase, making the transition harder to achieve and more expensive,” he said.

NSTA has estimated decommissioning costs for the next decade of more than £20 billion. This is a “huge opportunity for the supply chain”. The industry spent about £2bn on decommissioning last year, but less work was completed than planned.

Payne noted that decommissioning activity had been consistent over the last five years, but that not all companies have kept up.

There are still over 1,000 wells waiting to be decommissioned in the next five to six years. 500 have missed their deadline. Delays among operators can hamper the industry’s credibility and complicate supply chain planning, pushing costs up.

Diverse decommissioning

Knowledge sharing and engagement attract diverse talent. NSTA and UKCS’s latest Decommissioning Cost and Performance Update highlighted the opportunity for growth in the UK skills base to share overseas.

Diverse backgrounds and perspectives help industries, making them more inclusive and more likely to retain talent.

Female talent was emphasised during Payne’s speech. “Sadly, we know that the sector is missing out on female talent,” he said. He pointed out that in the energy sector, only one in three leadership roles go to women.

There is room to improve recruitment and retention rates for the necessary breakthroughs. But that will take work, so where to begin? Payne suggested starting with convincing UK staff of the possibilities.

Axis Network aims for a fair and equal energy sector in Aberdeen and beyond by 2030. They have shared practical steps to help companies drive diversity. Beyond tackling bias, this can be considering unique skills for new opportunities, encouraging parental leave uptake, or welcoming those who left for personal reasons back.

Writing for Axis in August, Payne set out the challenge for the industry. “I don’t view the gender challenge as one of ‘why aren’t we nicer to women’, I view it as ‘why can’t we recruit and hold onto women – why don’t they want to be here?’.”

If the industry cannot convince potential workers of a future in the industry, “what hope do we have of convincing those outside of our industry?”

Broader diversity

While the discussion has tended to focus on the role of women, the sector really has to look much more broadly.

Emma Lamont, chair of Women’s Energy Network Alliance (WENA) and Women in New Energy (WINE) marketer, said there was a need to think about more voices.

“We can’t achieve net zero without diversity of thought and it’s clear from networks like WENA and events like WINE that there are plenty of talented and passionate voices looking for their chance to contribute,” she said.

“One of the biggest challenges we face as a women’s network is including our male allies in the conversation – we need them to help us to change the status quo because it absolutely impacts everybody in the industry.”

Discussion of women in energy is an entry way to securing more diversity and more inclusion. “It’s a fact that organisations with better diversity perform better, and that can only benefit the energy sector and the transition to cleaner energy.”

It’s clear energy sector workers are ageing out of the workforce. Simply to remain in the same place would require new ways of thinking and new ways of delivering activity. But the problem facing the UK is much more complicated than running to stand still.

OPITO has forecast the offshore may support 211,000 workers direct and indirect by 2030 and 350,500 by 2050.

Meanwhile, Energy Networks Association (ENA) has said the UK would need 400,000 recruits by 2050 to achieve net zero. These people need to provide a “diverse array of skillsets, whilst being representative of a culturally inclusive UK”, it said.

The sector is changing and so are the sorts of work required, in addition to the adoption of new targets. There is no other way than securing a more diverse workforce.

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