Economic Report 2018

Brexit also poses potential challenges around industry’s continued access to skilled labour. Around 5 per cent of the total oil and gas workforce, and around 7 per cent of the offshore workforce, come from other EU countries. It is vital that arrangements are in place between the UK and EU to allow the continued frictionless movement of people, ensure that there is no increase in labour costs and to mitigate concerns around potential skills shortages. Delays in access to skilled resources from EU countries have the potential to lead to project delays, or to projects being managed from outside of the UK, and in some instances could lead to production having to be shut in. As an example, some vessels working offshore such as Emergency Response and Rescue Vessels (ERRVs), require skilled engineers. If there are difficulties in recruiting them from in or outside the UK, then the ERRVs will not be able to provide the vital standby service to offshore platforms – without which the platforms would have to shut down operations and production. As well as attracting skilled workers to the UK, there are concerns around potential delays to accessing equipment and materials to service projects and operations on the UKCS. For example, prior to Bulgaria joining the EU it took around four days to transport goods from Bulgaria to Aberdeen. However, since goods were being transported from outside the EU it was common for them to be delayed at border controls for up to an additional week. There are concerns that similar delays could be reintroduced when the UK leaves the EU, affecting vital pieces of equipment for operations which currently face no customs checks or border delays. The UK has established world-leading technologies, resources, skills and expertise within the oil and gas industry, with a number of these servicing international projects and operations. It is important that the ability for UK-based companies to service international projects is not negatively impacted as the industry seeks to grow its share of the global oilfield services market (see section 4 on Vision 2035).

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In order to minimise the impact on the UK oil and gas industry, Oil & Gas UK has three key requests of the UK government around Brexit:

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• Maintain frictionless access to markets and labour • Maintain a strong voice in Europe for this industry • Protect energy trading and the internal energy market

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Ensuring this will allow the UK oil and gas industry to continue to be competitive within the global market. This is essential to help the UK attract the investment required to maximise economic recovery and achieve the potential outlined within Vision 2035.

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