Offshore staff
ABERDEEN, UK – Britain’s subsea sector is set to recruit 8,928 people over the next three years, according to Subsea UK’s Business Activity Review for 2018/19.
The report found that the total value of UK subsea output had increased to almost £7.8 billion ($10.2 billion) compared with £7.5 billion ($9.8 billion).
That figure is thought to account for around 37% of the global market, estimated at around £21 billion ($27.4 billion) annually.
Employment rose slightly between 2017 and 2019 to 45,163, but over the next one to three years close to 80% of companies interviewed anticipated stepping up recruitment, with employment in the industry set to exceed 54,000 by 2022.
Most of the jobs will be in northeast Scotland, where 63% of the industry is based. But recruitment should also be strong in northeast England, where the subsea industry is estimated at around £1.5 billion ($1.96 billion) and supporting 15,000 jobs.
Neil Gordon, chief executive of Subsea UK, said: “The last five years have taken their toll on those subsea companies predominantly operating in oil and gas. But the findings in this business activity review reveal that the UK subsea industry has weathered the storm.
“The decline has been arrested with a clear upturn in activity, largely due to an increase in output from subsea SMEs and more activity in renewables, particularly offshore wind.”
Total revenues from renewables across the UK sector rose from £1.3 billion ($1.7 billion) in 2017 to £1.8 billion ($2.35 billion) in 2018.
Around 80% of large subsea companies canvassed predict growing revenues from the renewable energy sector, and the same applies to almost 70% of SMEs.
Gordon said: “The drive towards net-zero presents exciting opportunities to develop solutions that accelerate the energy transition, particularly in carbon capture and storage.
“With the largest offshore wind market in the world right on our doorstep, the UK subsea industry must do more to capitalize on the underwater aspects of these developments and use them to showcase our technical excellence to the rest of the world."
02/03/2020
