American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2015 - 138

Oil And Gas Still An Attractive Career
ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND-The overwhelming majority of oil and gas professionals would still recommend a career
in the oil and gas industry to the next
generation, despite market challenges,
according to an industrywide poll conducted by global online oil and gas
industry news source, Rigzone.
Rigzone says nearly 1,000 skilled professionals from 74 countries participated
in the survey it conducted ahead of the
Society of Petroleum Engineers' Offshore
Europe Conference and Exhibition in
mid-September in Aberdeen. Of those, it
reports, 84 percent said they would recommend the oil and gas industry as a career choice to students, most often citing
wide career prospects, a long-term future
(because of high energy demand), and
competitive salaries as reasons.
Asked to rank areas of investment
during a downturn in order of priority,
Rigzone says oil and gas professionals
ranked health and safety first, followed by

workforce development. Graduate/apprenticeship programs also ranked as a high
priority (third) for professionals, Rigzone
continues, despite more than two-thirds
(76 percent) of respondents not having
participated in such a program themselves.
Rigzone reports 70 percent of working
oil and gas professionals surveyed believe
graduate and apprenticeship positions are
valuable-if not very valuable-and are of
huge importance to the industry.
"We know petroleum engineering
graduates and apprentices are facing
tougher competition for entry-level positions in today's challenging market," says
Mark Guest, Rigzone's strategic development director. "But what this survey
tells us is that, even in the face of difficult
times, those professionals already working
in the industry believe companies need
to continue to invest in recruiting and
developing young talent.
"Importantly, in spite of industry difficulties, the current workforce still views

the sector as presenting strong career
prospects for students and recent graduates," Guest adds.
He continues, "The industry's future
is going to entail developing harder-toreach reserves, which will present new
challenges as companies enter new frontiers. Continued investment in future
talent is the only way to ensure the oil
and gas sector avoids a skills gap in the
medium- to long-term. I am very pleased
to say this study shows this is a message
the workforce understands well."
Rigzone says 46 percent of survey respondents indicated they believe the industry is inspirational (33 percent) or
very inspirational (13 percent) in terms
of attracting the next generation, with
only 10 percent indicating they don't
think the sector is doing enough to inspire
emerging talent.
Rigzone says 941 oil and gas professionals covering the upstream and downstream sectors responded to its survey.r

Companies Will Continue LNG Projects

HOUSTON-A global energy market
analysis by Wood Mackenzie finds that,
despite a subdued outlook for liquefied
natural gas demand, almost all the LNG
projects proposed to make a final investment decision (FID) in 2015 and 2016
are going forward. In contrast, 45 upstream
oil and gas projects had postponed FIDs
by mid-September 2015.
If there are no postponements, Wood
Mackenzie says, the market could see an
additional 100 million tons of LNG a
year sanctioned in the next 6-18 months.
This extends the likelihood of an LNG
oversupply in Asia until 2025.
Vice President of Global Gas & LNG
Research Noel Tomnay says he is surprised
how few projects chasing FID have been
postponed, even though the LNG market
is facing a wall of new supply, and
China's gas demand growth has faltered.
Tomnay says there have been almost
no indications that companies are reassessing investment decisions on LNG
projects. He notes that in February, BG
Group deferred its proposed U.S. LNG
export project at Lake Charles, La. "But
BG's postponement has been an exception," he suggests.

Pressing On
More companies may want to follow
BG's suit, Tomnay predicts, especially

if the market likely will not absorb new
LNG in the medium to long term. However, Tomnay explains that many companies have decided to press ahead for a
variety of reasons.
"Postponement could invalidate contracts for the portion of project LNG sold
so far and jeopardize hard-won stakeholder
support, including from local communities," he says. "Some developers are worried that any loss of momentum could
favor their competitors, and that a project
postponement may be tantamount to a
cancellation."
Global LNG supply is about 250 million tons a year (mmty), and there is an
additional 140 mmty under construction,
Tomnay outlines. "We believe the global
market will struggle to absorb such a
large supply uptick," he projects. "So,
we have been forecasting a soft global
market for some time. However, now
that bearish prognosis is being exacerbated
by a demand downturn."
Tomnay warns that if the exporting
companies' statements are to be believed,
the world will see FID on some 50 mmty
of domestic LNG and an additional 50
mmty from other countries over the next
6-18 months.
A Decelerating Asia
Tomnay points to Asia, and China in

138 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

particular, as being pivotal to Wood
Mackenzie's revised outlook, as China's
LNG import commitments are set to rise
by 17 percent year-on-year between 2015
and 2020, from 20 to 41 mmty.
"But China will struggle to take all
this LNG so quickly," Tomnay forecasts.
"For instance, in the first half of 2015,
China's LNG imports fell almost 4 percent
year-on-year because of subdued industrial
output and fuel competition, including
relatively low priced oil.
"The outlook for longer term incremental LNG demand growth in China
also is being affected negatively," he
continues. "And with lower industrial
output and power generation competition
increasingly characterizing other key
Asian LNG markets, such as South Korea,
Asian buyers are not in a hurry to finalize
new LNG contracts."
Wood Mackenzie holds that market
opportunities for new LNG into Asia
will not open significantly until after
2022, as new project FIDs are not required
until 2017 at the earliest, he clarifies.
"Developing even half of the proposed
supply could prolong the Asian oversupply
to 2025," Tomnay concludes. "The global
market does not need all this LNG at the
pace proposed, and as companies confront
this reality, I believe a host of project
postponements will follow."
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2015

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