Psst! Need a job?

April 17, 2006
During coffee breaks at last month’s US Gas Processors Association convention near Dallas, conversations often turned to the industry’s age profile.

During coffee breaks at last month’s US Gas Processors Association convention near Dallas, conversations often turned to the industry’s age profile. That profile was evident by graying hair-among those who still had it-of men and women standing near the conversations. Simply put: Industry is showing its age.

OGJ editors who cover industry functions have noticed how such discussions have grown increasingly common and their tones increasingly grave. The consensus: Few new engineering and business graduates are choosing to work for oil and gas companies.

The causes are myriad and date from effects of the massive layoffs and contractions of the late 1980s. They are also grounded in industry’s abysmal efforts to counter images of environmental and corporate arrogance so prevalent among the general public. Why would any new engineer or businessman or woman want to be associated with such businesses?

Well, why not ask those who have given their professional lives to them? That’s just what a recent survey did.

Industry window

Late last month, Preng & Associates, Houston, released results of an industry survey conducted in December 2005 of energy-industry executives and managers, a group much like those attending the GPA convention. The purpose of the survey was to quantify anecdotal evidence and gain a view of the “career dynamics” affecting the energy industry.

“We wanted to learn how the rapid industry changes of the past 5 years had affected executive careers,” said the energy search specialists.

Of the more than 8,600 surveyed, more than 1,340 (16%) responded, compared with a typical response rate of less than 10%.

Respondents work in five energy-industry sectors: A. finding and extracting; B. energy services including transportation by pipelines; C. chemical and petrochemical, crude oil refining, and natural gas processing; D. manufacturing power and power generation; E. engineering procurement and construction; and F. communications and financial. The published report did not break out numbers for each sector.

Overall survey results show a body of industry professionals who are happy with their career choices, have remained fully employed in the energy industry despite being affected by corporate mergers and acquisitions, have received increased compensation, and are giving little thought to getting out or retiring.

Specifically, 79% in Group A, 78% in Group B, and 75% in Group C stated they would repeat their choices of academic study and profession in the energy industry. Nearly 70% in Group A, 77% in Group B, and 74% in Group C reported they remain employed in their industries. Among Group A, 81% are working full-time, 83% in both Group B and C.

With headlines in recent years full of news about contraction among energy companies, it was surprising to find that among Group A, 82% said they were still employed in the same professional discipline (geology, for example); 79% among Group B; and 80% in Group C.

Also, despite many having worked for two or more employers in the past 5 years, 73% of Groups A and B and 77% of Group C had seen their compensations increase in those 5 years.

And leaving behind the long hours and grinding travel does not seem imminent, the survey revealed. Among Group A, 73% said they were unlikely to retire in the next 5 years; 81% among Group B; and 78% for Group C.

Some efforts

But these facts reveal only how satisfied are those who survived through the 1990s and into the current boom. The question remains: Where are the technical and business leaders for tomorrow’s energy industries?

The GPA, for one association, is ramping up a modest program to promote working in its industries. It plans to enlist some of those currently working in the industry-such as those answering the Preng survey-to visit two US universities historically responsible for supplying engineers, the University of Oklahoma and Texas A&M University.

In addition, Oil & Gas Journal plans to target technical and engineering students at more than 12 major US universities with information designed to attract graduates to oil and gas professions.

Will these efforts bear fruit? Whatever the answer, we know for certain that wringing hands and burying heads in sand about the future will do nothing.

And where are the thousands of non-US students who used to populate engineering classes at US universities then return home to help their nations develop?

That’s for another column.