The oil market is a dark place right now. Short-term, there seems to be no end to the low prices.
To keep up with this, oil and gas companies have had to cut costs wherever they can, be it in pushing back major projects or laying off employees.
The latter has become a huge problem for the industry. Not only are layoffs losing manpower, but they’re losing skilled manpower.
It seems like the best option, at least in the short term, to lay off some of the higher-paid workers to save company money… it’s not.
Despite the fact that the oil market is in quite a rut with low oil prices, having the workforce in place to ramp up operations when prices recover is invaluable.
What’s more, newly trained workers are becoming scarce.
Companies in the industry have a few options to keep this trend from going too far.
First, it’s important to keep looking for new workers. Companies can reach out to universities with courses in the field in hopes of encouraging students to look forward to a lucrative job in a recovering market.
Second, it is just as important to keep good workers as it is to find new ones. While it may seem more expensive to keep them on, it will cost the oil and gas industry much more in the long run if its best and brightest are working on other projects.
Third, to make some of those skilled workers more affordable, companies may have to slash salaries for a while. Employees may find it hard to continue working with less pay, but most would rather take a pay cut to lose their jobs entirely.
The low prices on oil seem to be resiliently sticking around, exacerbated by the determination of the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Iran especially, to keep their rigs pumping and their market shares intact.
But even such big oil powers can’t sustain this level of output forever, and demand for crude oil isn’t going away any time soon.
The market will recover, and the industry will need all the skilled workers it can get when that happens.
To continue reading…
Click here to read the OilPrice article.
Until next time,
Keith Kohl
Check us out on YouTube!A true insider in the technology and energy markets, Keith’s research has helped everyday investors capitalize from the rapid adoption of new technology trends and energy transitions. Keith connects with hundreds of thousands of readers as the Managing Editor of Energy & Capital, as well as the investment director of Angel Publishing’s Energy Investor and Technology and Opportunity.
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