Oil & Gas UK chair accuses green counterparts of overplaying their own importance
By Steven Vass, Deputy Business Editor

THE renewable energy sector has been accused of being "disingenuous" by counterparts in the oil and gas sector over plans to launch a recruitment drive at a conference in Aberdeen this week.

With old and new energy sectors struggling in the face of a shortage of graduate engineers and other skilled workers, Bob Keiller, joint chairman of industry association Oil & Gas UK, accused the renewables sector of overplaying its importance at the expense of his industry.

Keiller maintains that policy focus on the younger sector is weakening industry incentives to further exploration on the UK continental shelf (UKCS).

"Why would an engineer work in a sector renewables that pays significantly less and might not offer security for the medium term? If the renewables industry was economically viable, it would be able to compete in the energy market."

Competition over recruitment threatens to create tension at this year's All Energy Conference as renewables bosses countered that Keiller was exaggerating the difficulties of his industry.

Simon Grey, chief executive of Alness-based marine renewables firm AWS, said: "I have heard this crap before. It's just totally untrue."

It comes as Scottish Renewables plans to highlight its members' graduate recruitment problems this week at the conference, which is dedicated to all areas of the energy industry and will be addressed by the SNP's Jim Mather and Labour's Malcolm Wicks, respectively energy ministers for Scotland and the UK .

The renewables association has produced a graduate brochure after new research highlighted the threat of skills shortages to the sector's growth.

Jason Ormiston, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, told the Sunday Herald that the shortage was the result of the industry's unexpectedly quick expansion following the creation of renewable energy targets for 2020 and beyond.

The renewables presentation will stress that the sector is exciting, well paid and in Scotland for the long term - in implied contrast to oil and gas, where production is slowly declining. Ormiston said: "If you want to join an industry with a long-term future, then renewables is one of them. Arguably oil and gas have shorter opportunities."

Keiller, who is also chief executive of the oil services company PSN (Production Services Network), argued that the maturity of renewables was overstated.

He said that this risked undermining the renewables industry in the long term, and added that with many of the skills the same for both industries, it was "disingenuous" for Scottish Renewables to make it sound like an either/or choice.

He said: "I look forward to the day when the world doesn't rely on non-renewables, but that will need a thriving economy, and the only way we are going to get there is to make the most of the resources we have "The cost of exploration has risen significantly, the amount that people are likely to find has dropped, and while people can point to the high oil price, the gap between exploration and production is such that there needs to be some confidence that the UK fiscal regime incentivises people to maximise our non-renewable resources."

Simon Grey concededthat the current importance of the renewables industry had been overplayed, but argued that Keiller was missing the point. "The government has set the target of 20% of UK energy from renewables by 2020. This means something like 45% of electricity. That means rebuilding 45% of the electrical infrastructure in this country, which is a huge task," he said. "A large amount of the oil and gas infrastructure is already built. Yes, they are having to explore in new areas, which requires new technology, but it's nothing compared to what renewables needs."

With his firm looking for a new team and offering £75,000 for a lead engineer, he said wages in renewables were now almost on a par with oil and gas. On job security, he said: "Does Keiller think that working for E.on or npower or Scottish and Southern Energy is not a secure proposition? Companies like BP and Shell are not in renewables as a fringe hobby. There is big money to be made."

Richard Boddington, a wind analyst at renewables consultant Sgurr Energy, added said that focusing on renewables need not affect oil and gas exploration.

"The rise in the price of oil and gas, which has been huge over the last couple of years, will give the sector more incentive to explore," he said.