The regional oil and gas labour market is still holding steady even while hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost globally, according to the latest industry survey by the recruitment consultant Hays.
"The oil and gas industry is not as bad here as it is in other parts of the world," said Gary Ward, the Abu Dhabi-based regional head of Hays Oil and Gas.
"We're not talking about the tens of thousands of hires that was happening five years ago around the GCC, but regionally there is still a lot going on," Mr Ward said, pointing to examples such as the offshore islands projects by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and the US$28 billion Al Zour refinery and petrochemical project that Kuwait has said will proceed as planned.
Hays publishes a survey of the industry quarterly, and its next one is due tomorrow. It will show that salaries for skilled oil and gas engineers in the region also are holding up, despite the gloom prevailing in the industry worldwide.
“We’re not looking at increases in regional salaries, but we’re not looking at decreases either,” says Mr Ward.
Hays, together with its local partner Al Nahiya Group, is opening a new Abu Dhabi Oil and Gas office even though national oil companies in the region, like their private sector counterparts, are cutting costs.
“Just because [NOCs] are saving money doesn’t mean they’re stopping hiring,” Mr Ward explains. “It is more that it is affecting the supply chain and they may be cutting the number of suppliers. That is putting pressure on margins, but those who are left getting more. It’s the same from a recruitment point of view – it is a matter of lower margins but increased volume.”
The rest of the world is seeing the effect of the oil price slump flow through to jobs.
In the United States, the latest employment data last week showed the oil and gas sector trimmed another 8,000 jobs in December, bringing the total for the year to 130,000, according to the government’s jobs report.
In the United Kingdom, the offshore sector lost 65,000 jobs last year, with direct and indirect employment falling from 440,000 to 375,000, according to the industry body Oil and Gas UK.
Other high-cost production areas have been vulnerable too – for example the tar sands patch in Canada’s Alberta province. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers has estimated there have been more than 35,000 layoffs in the oil and gas sector directly, with perhaps 100,000 jobs lost in total.
“The rest of world is in pain as far as oil and gas industry is concerned. It’s really hurting,” said Mr Ward. “Exploration has been hit particularly hard.”
About $200bn of projects have been cancelled in the past year, and many more billions of dollars worth of projects are no longer being assessed because of the expectation that oil prices will rise only slowly from current levels in the low $30s per barrel.
The long-term calculation by regional oil producers, however, is that their low-cost projects will be best-placed to take advantage of an oil price rebound.
amcauley@thenational.ae
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Essentials
The flights
Whether you trek after mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda or the Congo, the most convenient international airport is in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali. There are direct flights from Dubai a couple of days a week with RwandAir. Otherwise, an indirect route is available via Nairobi with Kenya Airways. Flydubai flies to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, via Entebbe in Uganda. Expect to pay from US$350 (Dh1,286) return, including taxes.
The tours
Superb ape-watching tours that take in all three gorilla countries mentioned above are run by Natural World Safaris. In September, the company will be operating a unique Ugandan ape safari guided by well-known primatologist Ben Garrod.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, local operator Kivu Travel can organise pretty much any kind of safari throughout the Virunga National Park and elsewhere in eastern Congo.
What is tokenisation?
Tokenisation refers to the issuance of a blockchain token, which represents a virtually tradable real, tangible asset. A tokenised asset is easily transferable, offers good liquidity, returns and is easily traded on the secondary markets.
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
UAE cricketers abroad
Sid Jhurani is not the first cricketer from the UAE to go to the UK to try his luck.
Rameez Shahzad Played alongside Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett in Durham while he was studying there. He also played club cricket as an overseas professional, but his time in the UK stunted his UAE career. The batsman went a decade without playing for the national team.
Yodhin Punja The seam bowler was named in the UAE’s extended World Cup squad in 2015 despite being just 15 at the time. He made his senior UAE debut aged 16, and subsequently took up a scholarship at Claremont High School in the south of England.
England Test squad
Joe Root (captain), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Alastair Cook, Sam Curran, Keaton Jennings, Dawid Malan, Jamie Porter, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes.
AndhaDhun
Director: Sriram Raghavan
Producer: Matchbox Pictures, Viacom18
Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Tabu, Radhika Apte, Anil Dhawan
Rating: 3.5/5
Results:
First Test: New Zealand 30 British & Irish Lions 15
Second Test: New Zealand 21 British & Irish Lions 24
Third Test: New Zealand 15 British & Irish Lions 15
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Stamp duty timeline
December 2014: Former UK finance minister George Osbourne reforms stamp duty, replacing the slab system with a blended rate scheme, with the top rate increasing to 12 per cent from 10 per cent:
Up to £125,000 - 0%; £125,000 to £250,000 – 2%; £250,000 to £925,000 – 5%; £925,000 to £1.5m: 10%; Over £1.5m – 12%
April 2016: New 3% surcharge applied to any buy-to-let properties or additional homes purchased.
July 2020: Rishi Sunak unveils SDLT holiday, with no tax to pay on the first £500,000, with buyers saving up to £15,000.
March 2021: Mr Sunak decides the fate of SDLT holiday at his March 3 budget, with expectations he will extend the perk unti June.
April 2021: 2% SDLT surcharge added to property transactions made by overseas buyers.
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