FT: Global oil giants face a fight to lure local talent

Oil and gas groups whose operations are spread around the world are struggling to attract staff and those they do hire command increasingly lofty salaries even as some of the oilfields they work in are running dry. The end of “easy oil” in maturing basins such as the North Sea is demanding more work to lift remaining reserves, which has led to wage inflation in countries such as Norway and the UK even as production declines.

Meanwhile some affluent countries blessed with a glut of energy projects – Australia in particular – have seen tight labour market conditions bid up salaries and threaten the viability of some developments. Elsewhere, poorer countries, such as Brazil, Russia, Angola and Nigeria, have been keen to use multibillion-dollar budgets for new oil and gas projects as a lever to develop desperately needed domestic employment and supply chain opportunities.
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