Robert Gordon University News

Scottish engineering business ACE Winches is calling on industry to invest more in training young people as it expands its own apprenticeship scheme.The Aberdeenshire-based company has welcomed its very first foundation graduate, bringing the number of young people recruited as apprentices to around 300 over the last 30 years.The company's founder and CEO, Alfie Cheyne, a marine engineering apprentice himself when he left school at 16, has called on all industry bosses to recognize…

The oil and gas industry is currently enduring one of the most challenging periods in its history. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic significantly accelerated an existing decline in global demand for hydrocarbons, resulting in the lowest oil prices for 30 years. This has left the industry facing the dual challenge of ensuring successful and safe working conditions and practices for employees while maintaining the economic viability of assets.How can operators maintain, or even raise…

International project services consultancy, Cambla, has launched an upgraded version of its Schedule Animation Tool (S.A.T) to the renewables market. Initially launched to market last year, the technology was a world-first for the oil and gas industry and has been further developed to ensure effective and efficient planning of renewable marine operations. S.A.T provides an accurate visual representation of vessel locations and planned activities, offering project teams full fleet management support and significant cost savings. The most recent upgrades to the tool significantly improve user experience and include improved comparison view, detailed project infrastructure and the addition of renewable graphics.

The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Aberdeen Section has announced the recipients of its annual student bursaries programme for 2015-2016. In total, £7,500 was awarded to seven students attending Aberdeen, Robert Gordon, Dundee, Heriot-Watt and Strathclyde universities. Almost 100 applications were received and for the first time this year, the shortlisted finalists were invited to present one of their answers from their bursary application to a panel of judges before the final recipients were selected. Two bursaries of £2,500, were awarded to Andrew MacDonald, MEng Mechanical and Offshore Engineering student at Robert Gordon University, and Mohammed Mehdi Walji, MSc Petroleum Engineering student at Heriot Watt University.

Cost-cutting in Britain's North Sea oil and gas sector could lead to more acute skills shortages in future, industry experts have warned, with some expressing concerns that safety could be compromised. A plunge in crude prices over the last 12 months has prompted oil majors such as Royal Dutch Shell, BP , Chevron and ConocoPhillips to lay off hundreds of workers. Oil field services groups such as Amec Foster Wheeler , Wood Group and Petrofac are also in consultation with employees over job cuts.

MacGregor (GBR) Ltd has established a new relationship with Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen by providing work placements that support the career development of graduates. The Aberdeen office of MacGregor's Global Lifecycle Support Division will work with the university to provide practical workplace opportunities for undergraduate and post-graduate students that will assist with their development activities. Through a series of planned short-term placements students will assist with marketing and commercial development for MacGregor's UK-based operations, including its new training centre. Recently introduced to deliver specialist skills and competencies to MacGregor engineers and its customers…

Bibby Offshore Holdings Limited, [the subsea services provider to the oil & gas industry, is pleased to announce its continued international expansion with the opening of an office in Stravanger, Norway. The Norwegian office for Bibby Offshore will be headed by Arne Lier. Bibby Offshore has a leading subsea services position in the UK North Sea and the opening of the office in Norway further increases the Company’s growing international presence. The Company is current participating in a number of tenders in the Norwegian Continental Shelf (“NCS” or the “Region”) and is focusing on expanding its existing services to offshore operators in the Region, benefiting from the depth of relationship that Bibby Offshore already has with the UKCS divisions of many operators.

Scottish nationalists are betting $2.5 trillion of hydrocarbons trapped miles beneath the North Sea could bankroll an independent Scotland, but winning control of the European Union's largest oil reserves would be no blank cheque. Scotland says the bulk of Britain's North Sea oil and gas reserves are in its waters, while London says any division would be subject to negotiations should Scots vote to end their 307-year-old union with England in a referendum on Sept. 18. Oil is the punch in Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond's pitch for independence: he accuses London of squandering the North Sea's mineral wealth and says Scotland would be one of the world's richest countries if it took control of its own destiny.

The U.K. operation of international oil services group Aker Solutions has announced the appointment of a new vice president to lead greenfield projects as the company looks to expand its capabilities in the sector. Bob Shaw’s appointment is the latest in a series of new senior management appointments at Aker Solutions subsea business in Aberdeen as the company embarks on the next stage in its growth strategy. He will lead development of all greenfield projects, focusing on the successful delivery of work for key clients including Statoil, Petrobras, Total E&P, Dana Petroleum, ENI and others.

Research to measure offshore workers’ body size with 3D scanners to inform the future design of safety equipment, survival clothing and space requirements on offshore installations has been launched in Aberdeen. The research, which will generate an ongoing capability for measuring the size and shape of the offshore workforce, is reported to be the first of its kind in more than 25 years and is being led by researchers at Robert Gordon University’s Institute of Health and Welfare Research (IHWR) in collaboration with Oil and Gas U.K.

Oil and gas industry skills body OPITO has commissioned a new study which aims to identify the skills and competence gaps in offshore supervisors and how this impacts on the prevention of major safety incidents. Researchers at Robert Gordon University are undertaking in-depth interviews with current, former and retired offshore installation managers (OIMs) with extensive experience of working in the UK Continental Shelf to gain their insights into the influence of managerial commitment to safety in the offshore industry. The announcement follows last week's comments by industry leaders at the Oil and Gas U.K. breakfast that the shortage of experienced staff is potentially jeopardizing the North Sea’s world-leading safety standards as the sector prepares for its biggest boom for 30 years.

Finalists for this year’s Offshore Achievement Awards have been named  {Tuesday 22 January}, in an announcement which celebrates the highest performing companies and individuals within the energy industry. The 2013 awards, which were launched in October by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Aberdeen Section, received a high level of interest across each of the categories. TAQA Bratani is supporting the awards as main sponsor for a second successive year. The awards, which were re-launched in 2011 by SPE Aberdeen…

Subsea UK and OPITO have each been awarded part of a £2million fund aimed at attracting vital new entrants into the industry and helping people to diversify their skills. Scotland’s leading diver training facility, The Underwater Center in Fort William, has also secured a share of The Energy Challenge Fund, set up to help tackle the current skills shortage in the oil and gas industry. The Fund, managed on behalf of the Scottish Government by Skills Development Scotland (SDS), will support employers’ skills needs to build on the talent pool in Scotland’s burgeoning energy sector. The training is aimed at helping people to gain the qualifications necessary for working in oil and gas, including the subsea sector, as well as renewables and micro-renewables.

Decom North Sea (DNS), the offshore oil & gas decommissioning forum, held its annual general meeting last night in St Andrews, with 10 new directors elected from across all sectors of the decommissioning industry. The meeting heard that the supply chain body now has 213 fee paying members. Attendees were also given an overview of Decom North Sea activity over the past year and an update on progress against the various strategic objectives. Brian Nixon, Decom North Sea’s chief executive, said: “We are delighted to have elected a board of experienced directors to Decom North Sea. These industry professionals bring experience and knowledge from various sectors of the industry, which is vitally important for DNS going forward.

A young Aberdeen engineer has been recognized for her work inspiring school pupils to take on a career in the oil & gas industry. Katy Crawford, who is employed by offshore lifting and mechanical handling services company Sparrows, has been chosen to receive the Raising the Profile of the Profession – Promoting Engineering to Primary Students award from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE). After just one year in full-time employment, the 22-year-old has become heavily involved in making children aware of the benefits of picking a career in engineering.

Oil and gas industry offers ex-military personnel chance for a challenging second career. A former soldier has swapped foreign battlefields for the oil and gas industry, highlighting the vital role transferrable skills can play in addressing talent shortages within the energy sector. Duncan Harwood spent five years in the armed forces, leading soldiers on tours of Iraq and Northern Ireland, along with managing construction sites in the Falkland Islands. The 32-year-old has now joined Aberdeen-headquartered independent energy consultancy ADIL as a subsea project engineer.

Energy services company Senergy has appointed a vice president (VP) of resources to further strengthen the company’s commitment to building and developing its global talent pool. Taking up the role is Vivien Broughton who, through her broad oil and gas career, has established an impressive track record in delivering effective business solutions that improve retention and attract new talent. Vivien started her career as a geologist and subsequently worked as a wells engineer before…

Tendeka, the provider of completions and reservoir monitoring products and services to the upstream oil and gas industry, is delighted to announce the promotions of two key personnel. Gillian King, SPE, has been appointed vice president Asia Pacific region and Derren Simpson, SPE, has been appointed vice president Middle East and North Africa. Gillian joined Tendeka as senior sales engineer in January 2007. She then progressed to regional sales manager Europe before becoming area manager for Asia Pacific (South) in 2010.

AVEVA sponsored RGU report indicates fragmented and inconsistent information systems. AVEVA (LSE:AVV), a leader in engineering design and information management solutions for the plant, power and marine industries, today announces the global launch of ‘The Health & Safety Information Gap’, undertaken by Aberdeen Business School, Robert Gordon University (RGU) at Offshore Europe 2011. Concentrating on information systems within the health & safety environment, the far reaching report documents a number of insightful findings. For example, 40% of respondents don’t know where to search for safety information and are working on a mixture of corporate, local and external information systems.

Decom North Sea (DNS), the offshore oil & gas decommissioning forum, has commissioned research into the future labour and skills requirements for the growing decommissioning sector to try to alleviate predicted skills shortages in future. With more than £1billion a year of decommissioning expenditure forecast for the UK North Sea by 2015 and only 7% of projects completed to date, DNS will make its findings available to training bodies to help ensure appropriately skilled people are available.

Following the signing of a landmark agreement with the Iraq Ministry for Oil to help the war-torn country develop the skills and training necessary to exploit its hydrocarbon resources, OPITO will welcome a senior delegation from Iraq on a fact-finding mission. The delegation, made up of five senior figures from Iraq’s Ministry for Oil and the deans of the four oil technical institutes in Basrah, Kirkuk, Baghdad and Tikrit, is visiting Scotland for four days this week. The delegates will learn about Aberdeen-headquartered OPITO's MIST (Minimum Industry Safety Training) initiative…

An industry body set up to ensure businesses are ready to secure opportunities from decommissioning work over the coming years will shortly launch a major mapping exercise to help the supply chain benefit from the $38.6b to $46.3b of North Sea work forecast for the future. The work by Decom North Sea will help promote the capability and capacity of the North Sea supply chain for decommissioning projects, as well as showcasing supply chain companies and their individual expertise and experience.

The National Subsea Research Institute (NSRI) has achieved its initial target to recruit 20 companies to join in developing a vision for the long-term future of the subsea industry. The organisation, jointly established just over a year ago by Subsea UK, the University of Aberdeen, the University of Dundee, Newcastle University and Robert Gordon University, is developing a national research program to benefit the UK subsea industry over the next 15-20 years. As NSRI begins the implementation of its first flagship research programs…