The skills shortage in the oil and gas development sector in Southern Africa was hampering economic development in the region, said University of the Witwatersrand Business School head and director Steve Bluen at a skills development seminar, in Johannesburg, earlier this month.

The seminar, titled Skills Development in the Engineering and Construction Sector Servicing Oil and Gas Development in Southern Africa, brought together a host of industry and academic professionals.

South African Petroleum Industry Association (Sapia) executive director Avhapfani Tshifularo stated that Sapia was taking a long-term approach to skills development.

He noted that a lot of projects were being pursued in the Southern Africa region, but that all these projects would, at some point, add to the competition for skills in South Africa, adding that action needed to be taken because these projects were positive for the industry and country.

“In the past 12 months, we have investigated a way to develop a skills development framework, which needs to support technical colleges and partner with them to produce artisans relevant to the industry. We are interested in looking at how to make it easier for artisans to access programmes and diplomas, in partnership with various institutions of higher learning,” Tshifularo said.

Sapia was hoping to approve recommendations for this initiative and intended to implement proposals next year.

Meanwhile, Mark Flower, MD of engineering construction company and seminar partner Fluor, believed that South Africa had a strong and robust engineering and construction industry, owing to old projects that had created a large skills capacity which the country sustained and expanded on.

He noted that South Africa had become a net exporter of skills, but that there was not a critical skills shortage in the engineering and construction sector in the country. However, he added that the industry did not have short- to medium-term projects to sustain the current skills capacity.

“The amount of work coming into the oil and gas sector was not enough in the last 20 years. The need is for continuity of work and investments. We need new feedstocks, investments and sustainability of that flow. “Students will add to the growth and there are lots of prospects in neighbouring countries like Mozambique,” Flower said.

However, he noted that there was a disconnect between universities and industry, as only three out of every 100 children who are enrolled in grade one graduate with a mathematics and science distinction in matric and go on to study engineering in university.
Bluen noted that, between 2008 and 2010, only 4% of students in sub-Saharan Africa graduated with engineering and construction degrees.

Flower said an investment environment with a policy framework was needed to ensure there was more local content in projects.

Engineering firm Murray & Roberts engineering Africa platform executive director Frank Saieva stated that there was much anticipation in the engineering industry going forward.

From a construction perspective, the industry was not doing well, he said, adding that growth forecasts were not so confident, resulting in the need for the oil and gas sector to start maturing.

The industry could thrive on the certainty that the oil and gas market provided and, when opportunities were realised, planning resource needs became easier, said Saieva.

“Our fear is what to do with the skills South Africa has once projects are completed. There is very little potential opportunity in South Africa. As industry, we need to develop ourselves in South Africa ahead of a programme to take the country forward. We need to develop our people and industries to take full advantage of opportunities. We look forward to an expedited approach in government to take advantage of opportunities,” he explained.