Is It Time To Stop Waiting For An O&G Recovery?

This last week has seen some dismal news for the offshore oil and gas industry. Well, maybe not for the industry itself, it will survive, it always has, more for the individuals that are in that industry. The corporate entity has a natural self-protective mechanism, much like a snail. It pulls itself into its shell and if it’s really bad it shuts the door. The corporation, when faced with life threatening external circumstances, retracts, retrenches, stops expenditure and sheds personnel so it can survive. In a sense that is good, it needs to be there when the recovery happens. Well, that may not be quite correct, the word should be IF!

We are moving into a new offshore oil and gas era. The world in general is moving rapidly away from petroleum dependence. Cars are often the focus because they are the outward evidence of the oil industry, the petrol guzzlers, only they are not guzzling so much nowadays. Green vehicles are the demand of the public and green private and commercial buildings follows closely behind. The oil and gas industry will have to give way in providing energy for both these areas.

So, the recovery is most unlikely to come back to pre-2008 conditions, or even pre-2014, no the shape of the industry will change, metamorphose into something different, leaner, more efficient more cost competitive.  This will result in all companies in the industry doing better with less people. Tens of thousands have already lost work, thousands are waiting for the next contract, the next job, busily feeding the insatiable recruitment maul with CVs that disappear never to be seen again. Many sit by the phone waiting on calls from recruiters that never come.

The time is now half past stop waiting. Your next task is to say “what else?”. If the weeks have dragged into months and looks likely to move into years and you are still waiting it is time to realise that you are wasting your time and your life. Look for something else and do it now!