Introduction

Today most people, probably yourself included, have come to

expect energy at the touch of a button or the flick of a switch. Until
recently, energy sources have been plentiful. The current global
environment is truly complex and presents significant challenges for
the oil and gas sector. Industry experts say that the era of easy oil is
over. In the past, resources were relatively easy to extract, but now
new reserves are more difficult to exploit. Currently, oil and gas is
extracted in deep water or more remote places, often under
extreme environmental conditions. Today, technology and innovation
are more critical than ever to overcome new industry challenges in
order to make energy available to everyone.
GE Oil & Gas is one of the key players in the energy market. It
delivers innovative equipment and services that enables its
customers, oil and gas companies, to access and to make more
efficient and sustainable use of the worlds energy resources. Its
technology is involved from extraction to transportation to end use
of oil and gas. GE Oil & Gas operates in over 100 countries around
the world. It employs 43,000 people and had sales revenue of over
$15 billion in 2012. GE has an unrelenting commitment to integrity,
the environment, health and safety, and quality. This commitment is
described in GE as The Way We Work.
One of the main GE Oil & Gas businesses is Subsea Systems. GE Oil
& Gas Subsea Systems is headquartered in Aberdeen, UK and
employs 2,800 people at eight sites across the country where its oil
and gas operations are constantly expanding. For instance, in 2012 a
new subsea centre in Bristol was opened creating 200 new jobs. This
expansion is in direct response to the growth of the subsea business,
a trend that is expected to continue in the coming years.
GE Oil & Gas technologies are at the core of complex, industry-
milestone projects worldwide, including projects in Qatar; Prelude,
Wheatstone, Ichthys LNG and Gorgon in Australia; and the East-
West Pipeline in China.
This business case references GE Oil & Gas contribution to the
Gorgon Project, to demonstrate the various roles needed around
the world to ensure the efficient running of big oil and gas projects.
Operated by Chevron, the Gorgon Project is one of the world's
largest natural gas projects and the largest single resource
development in Australia's history. The Project is developing the
Gorgon and Jansz-Io gas fields, located between 130 and 200
kilometres off the northwest coast of Western Australia. It includes
the construction of a three-train 15.6 million tonnes per annum
(MTPA) liquefied natural gas facility on Barrow Island, and a
domestic gas plant with the capacity to provide 300 terajoules of
gas per day to Western Australia. The gas produced will be used
to meet the local demand in Western Australia as well as the
growing energy demand in Asia.
GE Oil & Gas is responsible for supplying and maintaining key
technology that will be at the heart of the project.
GE Oil & Gas involvement in complex, global projects, such as
Gorgon, requires a wide range of roles in a variety of areas. Its
highly trained and skilled workforce constantly develops and
adapts to meet the changing needs of the industry.
Workforce planning in the global oil and gas environment
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Curriculum topics covered: Workforce planning
Functions of an organisation Roles and responsibilities CSR
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Workforce planning
Workforce planning is the process of planning for the future labour
needs of a business. An analysis will show the numbers, skills and
locations of people needed. Recruitment and training can then be
focused on meeting those needs. GE Oil & Gas works in a rapidly
changing market, so workforce planning is key to secure the
future of the business.
In addition to the aforementioned industry challenges, the oil and
gas industry is also facing a shortage of skilled people due to a
number of factors. First, an ageing workforce creates a large
industry challenge as many senior experts in the industry are
approaching retirement. Industry statistics show that up to 50% of
oil and gas engineers will be eligible to retire over the next few
years. In addition, in the UK there is a shortage of science,
technology, engineering and maths (STEM subjects) graduates so
demand for these students is high.
Engineering and technical competencies are essential to the
industry and provide the main, if not exclusive, entrance into both
technical and managerial careers. Due to the wide range of roles
needed, there is also considerable demand for other
competencies such as legal, marketing, financial and commercial
capabilities. Interpersonal skills such as highly interactive and
organisational skills, strong analytics and problem solving,
comprehensive oral and written communication skills and strategic
thinking are required of employees to take operations to another
level. An appetite for travel is also highly valued since the industry
operates on a global scale.
GE Oil & Gas is focused on providing training and development
opportunities to ensure its workforce can meet the industrys latest
challenges by offering a broad training curriculum and a network
of global training centres. Additionally, the companys customised
leadership programmes aim to develop the next generation of
technical experts and managers.
Business functions
GE Oil & Gas offers a huge range of roles in a variety of functional
areas, collaborating globally to support business needs, including:
research & development (R&D) and engineering to create and
implement innovative technologies
marketing and sales to identify and meet customers needs
globally
human resources (HR) to recruit, train and develop an efficient
workforce
finance to track the profitability of the business and its projects
manufacturing to produce equipment for use in all stages of
energy production and distribution.
External factors such as the environment and advances in
technology can also influence the projects and may require
additional expertise and skills. An example is Barrow Island where
the Gorgon Project is located. There are a number of unique
species of flora and fauna on Barrow Island and its surrounding
waters, including 378 species of native plants, 13 species of
mammals and four species of protected marine turtles. The island
has been a Class A Nature Reserve since 1910 and a Quarantine
Management System (QMS) has been implemented to prevent the
introduction of non-indigenous species. In line with the Projects
QMS and the companys Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
commitment, GE Oil & Gas is required to comply with measures to
protect the islands sensitive environment.
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Every single piece of equipment sent to Barrow Island must
comply with the Projects strict quarantine requirements. For this
reason, GE Oil & Gas has implemented its own quarantine
management system in Italy, where some of the equipment going
to Barrow Island is currently being assembled. These measures
have been very successful and were recognised with a recognition
award from the Projects quarantine team.
Advancements in technology are also creating new and exciting
job opportunities. For example, the power of big data and
analytics helps gain operational advantages through greater speed
and higher efficiency. This is what GE calls the Industrial Internet.
The Industrial Internet enables specialised employees to monitor
equipment that is installed thousands of miles away, detect early
warning signs of potential malfunction and take preventive action.
Roles and responsibilities
Inside every business, you can find different roles and
responsibilities. Most often big projects are carried out by diverse
cross functional teams typically led by a manager who is
responsible for the team processes, performance and business
results. The leadership team is responsible for making key
strategic decisions for the entire organisation.
Demonstrating passion and commitment and delivering a standard
of high performance, employees can grow inside the organisation
to higher positions and level of responsibilities. GE Oil & Gas
supports employees career paths through dedicated training and
development opportunities. 24-year old trainee production
engineer, Rhys Long, has experienced this benefit first-hand. Rhys
graduated school with 11 GCSEs and 4 A levels providing the
opportunity to accept an apprenticeship with GE Oil & Gas. After a
year as a technician, his work ethic impressed his managers so
much that he is now working towards an engineering degree
facilitated by the company. His skill set includes problem solving
and project management skills that he is now able to apply in a
real-life situation. According to Rhys, the most rewarding part of
his job is physically seeing the improvements he has made within
the factory enhancing processes. Rhys says:
I take a lot of pride in the work I do, so it is always a
reward to see somebody using something I have
implemented.
Rhys is seen as motivated, confident and a good communicator.
He attributes these personal characteristics to his success in
the role.
A cross functional team
In his role as a GE Oil & Gas Project Engineer, Simon Corrigans
responsibilities on the Gorgon Project include reviewing the initial
design and concept, as well as completing detailed designs of
components and assemblies ready to be manufactured by GE.
Working for GE Oil & Gas provides opportunities to work with
colleagues across the world. Design engineers from Poland, Italy
and Houston, as well as the UK, are working together in cross
regional teams on the Gorgon Project to reach the highest
operational standards. Working on such a prestigious project
provides a sense of pride to Simon:
This project is complex, challenging and has taken me out
of my comfort zone.
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Outside Engineering, many roles often carry high levels of
responsibility as well. Elaine Buchan works in finance as an EPC
Costing Analyst. EPC, Engineering, Procurement and
Construction, covers the entire range of a project. Elaines role
was to oversee the costings for the various stages of the bid
process for the Gorgon Project. Her responsibility was to help
ensure the success of GE Oil & Gas bid, as Elaine explains:
My work on the Gorgon Project was extremely varied
from preparing pre-qualification documents through to
costing the job. I was incredibly excited to be involved in
such an important project for GE.
GE Oil & Gas is also supplying subsea trees for the Gorgon
Project. Subsea trees are huge assemblies of valves and spools
that monitor and control gas flow. These were constructed at the
GE Oil & Gas site in Aberdeen then shipped to Australia.
According to Douglas Paul, Senior Logistics Coordinator
responsible for the delivery of these trees:
These trees are a technological and engineering marvel
and the logistics team is the safe pair of hands that
ensures they reach their end destination securely.
Douglas helped plan the transportation of the trees from the GE
facility in Aberdeen to the harbour for their shipping to Australia.
Preparations were made more than a year in advance, because
the subsea trees are so large, roads were closed to the public to
allow the equipment to reach the ships in the Aberdeen Harbour.
More than 22 people from GE were involved in this logistics
process, from loading and transportation, to offloading. From
there, the trees were shipped by Chevron 12,000 miles to
Australia, a journey taking around 6 weeks before final installation.
Conclusion
A project like Gorgon shows the many types of roles that are key
to the future of the industry. These include positions in
engineering, research and development, manufacturing,
environmental management, finance, IT, HR, sales, marketing,
communications and many more, at all levels, all around
the world.
GE Oil & Gas is a leader in advanced technologies and services
solutions for the oil and gas industry, one that is facing many new
challenges. Finding and extracting energy resources is becoming
more complex. Projects are often in difficult or remote places, like
deeper water, higher pressures and higher temperatures. The
company needs new talent to develop the next generation of
managers and experts. Only with a combination of innovations in
technology and a knowledgeable, skilled workforce can the
industry overcome these challenges to meet the worlds future
energy demand.
GE Oil & Gas | Workforce planning in the global oil and gas environment
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1. Describe what is meant by the term workforce
planning. (2 marks)
2. Explain why protecting the environment is so important
within the oil and gas industry. (4 marks)
3. Analyse the advantages of a business dividing into
functional areas. What impact do you think this has on
the roles of its employees? (6 marks)
4. Evaluate the benefits to GE Oil & Gas of winning a
contract like the Gorgon Project. Describe three job
roles that you think would be important within this
project. (8 marks)
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