North east offshore worker turned away from renewables industry inspires discussion at SNP conference
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AN offshore worker forced to work in Azerbaijan after renewable firms wouldn't give him an interview has inspired a discussion at the SNP conference.
At the SNP conference in Aberdeen today (Monday October 10), Aberdeenshire East MSP Gillian Martin hosted a talk called Our Mission: Energy Transition, together with Robert Gordon University (RGU) and Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce.
Her introductory remarks told the story of Laurence, who put himself through a Master's degree using a redundancy package from an oil and gas job.
However, after Laurence completed his degree, he found renewables companies refused to give him an interview.
Ms Martin said: "The reason I was asked to chair this event was off the back of work I have been doing with hearing the voices of oil and gas workers.
"He [Laurence] was working for BP and when he came back he wanted to get out of drilling and wanted into renewables.
"A really clever guy, a really good guy, who lived over in Azerbaijan for five years with his family.
"So he used some of the money he received as part of his redunancy package and put himself through a masters.
"But he couldn't even get driving jobs.
"I met his wife in the street one day and she said: 'Laurence has gone back to the middle east. He is now working doing drilling again.'
"We lost someone from the north east.
"And this time the family couldn't go with them, so a family was split apart too."
The discussion which followed went into detail about the problems facing oil and gas workers seeking to enter the renewables industry.
The panel was also attended by Michael Matheson, Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport; Paul de Leeuw, director of Robert Gordon University's (RGU) Energy Transition Institute; Donella Beaton, the vice principal of economic development at RGU and Fergus Mutch from Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce.
The event heard that 45,000 people currently work in oil and gas in the north east of Scotland and, without significant investment, that number could plummet to 28,000 by 2030.
However, if the north east is turned into a "global energy hub", the region could see 54,000 employed in the energy industry according to RGU figures.
Key to becoming a global energy hub, Mr de Leeuw said, was work already being done through the Energy Transition Zone and the bid for a Green Freeport.
Another essential resource, according to the RGU expert, is the 90 per cent of staff currently working in oil and gas who could quickly be retrained for a renewables role.
He said: "The training most people need to move from oil and gas into renewables is measured in weeks.
"If you are a technician in one industry, with a little training you can be a technician in another industry.
"The starting point is really good and we need a managed approach to making sure we make the most of this.
"There is a really big prize out there.
"Getting the best out of what we have got is a very smart move."
Committing to the plans to make the north east a major energy producer, Mr Matheson said: "Our objective is to make sure we become a global energy hub.
"That is where our direction of travel has got to be – making sure that the north east becomes that global energy hub.
"We have been the beneficiary of oil and gas over the course of the last five decades and we have the chance to transition into the renewable energy sector in a way which could surpass our oil and gas sector, if we play our cards right."
Mr Mutch, policy advisor at Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce praised the Scottish Government's response.
He said: "About a third of John Swinney's speech yesterday was dedicated to talking about this region's future.
"The energy sector, securing a just transition and recognising the role the north east plays as the powerhouse of the rest of Scotland.
"He also talked about the post-industrial mistakes of the past.
"These scars are still showing in other parts of Scotland because they didn't get that transition from their core industries right in the 1980s."
Councillor Neil Baillie, who represents Inverurie, asked the first question at the close of the session.
He said: "It is a great discussion here on a very important point.
"I am an ex-oil worker with 25 years of offshore experience.
"I got made redundant about eight years ago and did not get a job in another sector, I became an SNP councillor.
"Are you taking into account the difference between production and exploration workers in the oil and gas sector?"
Mr de Leeuw said future opportunities would stand to benefit those involved in both production and exploration.
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