Gulf oil industry faces acute labour shortage

12 October 2004

ABU DHABI – The ongoing massive investments in the Gulf petroleum has created a shortage of specialised workforce and the problem is expected to become acute by the year 2008 when more than 58,000 people would be needed.

To bridge this demand-supply gap of specialised manpower, Al Hamed Establishment, a subsidiary of the Bin Butti group of companies, signed yesterday a strategic partnership with Worldwideworker Services to provide specialised technical labour for the oil and gas industry in Abu Dhabi and Qatar.

Shaikh Hamed bin Khadem bin Butti Al Hamed, CEO of the Bin Butti group, speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of ADIPEC 2004, said that such an agreement with an international partner will make available a new database of technically qualified candidates in the oil and gas industry.

He added that the Bin Butti group had invested more than $45 million in the oil sector alone. With additional projects in the UAE and Saudi Arabia in the next five years, the investment in these countries will go up 25 to 35 per cent due to additional infrastructure being put in place for the oil and gas industries.

Speaking about the agreement with Worldwideworker, Bin Butti pointed out that it would involve building a database of experienced and qualified labour in both the UAE and Qatar in the first phase and this will be expanded to all the AGCC countries in the near future.

Frederik Rengers, GM, Worldwideworker said, “We are happy with this agreement and we are working closely with Bin Butti group to provide them with a new system capable of establishing a comprehensive database of eligible candidates to meet with the growing demand for specialised labour, both locally and regionally.

He pointed out that experienced workers in the oil and gas industries are extremely difficult to come by and this is especially so when they are needed urgently. The new system of e-hiring will allow us to allocate the right personnel for the right job in a short period of time and will make a big difference for major oil companies in the region in terms of saving time and money.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/business/2004/October/business_October238.xml§ion=business