EnergyBC

Education

One of the primary benefits of offshore development is to provide jobs for local residents. However, experience in other offshore regions shows that much of the employment generated by petroleum companies tends to be taken by highly skilled incoming migrant workers, leaving local residents either unemployed or employed in lower paying service sector jobs. The oil and gas industry also relies on highly skilled labor recruited from a global marketplace.

The lack of basic and post-secondary education would be a primary concern for local hiring in the regions surrounding Hecate Strait and the Queen Charlotte Sound. The percentage of local youth not completing high school is among the highest in the province (BC Stats 2004). This would severely limit opportunities to obtain long-term, higher-paying jobs. The lack of post-secondary education in the region also means that is is likely that upper-level positions would be filled by persons from outside the region.

The two graphs below are statistical representations of 18 year olds who did not graduate from high school, and 25-54 year olds without a completed post-secondary education degree. These graphs are from data compiled by BC Stats. What is important to note is that the Skeena-Queen Charlotte Region, highlighted in dark blue, shows a significantly higher percentage of its population than the average (represented by the solid line) who did not graduate from highschool, and who do not have post-secondary educations.

East Coast Initiatives

In an effort to increase the number of highly skilled local residents available and able to secure long-term employment during offshore development in Newfoundland, a wide range of training and research development infrastructure was created. Most notably this took place at Memorial University in St. John's (including the Marine Institute) and at the College of the North Atlantic. Programs in trade skills (e.g. electricians, welders) were designed not only to serve the offshore industry, but also to allow graduates to apply their craft in other fields once offshore operations were completed.

Through both public and private training institutions often sponsored by offshore companies, specialized vocational training is available in:

• Pre-employment Floorhand Training • Petroleum Engineering Technology Diploma • Well Control Certification • Basic Survival Training • Cartography • Geographic Information Systems • Global Positioning Systems • Right-of-Way Surveys • Remote Sensing • Exploration Technology • Computer Assisted Design/Computer Assisted Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) • ISIS – Intelligent Sensing for Innovative Structures • ACMBS – Advanced Composite Materials in Bridges and Structures • Ex Training (specialized training in electrical apparatus in hazardous and potentially explosive areas) • Geomatics Engineering Technology • Offshore Operations • Process Operations • Marine Navigation (Ship Masters Training) • Hydrography and Marine Surveying • Surveying • Firefighting and Recruitment• Marine First-Aid • Nautical Science • Naval Architecture • Offshore and Remote Medicine

Degree programs are available in:

• Occupational Health and Safety • Engineering (Civil, Mechanical, Petroleum, Industrial, Electrical, Environmental) • Earth Sciences • Environmental Science • Masters in Oil and Gas (executive training) • Geophysics • Oceanography

Research

Scholarships are also often provided or supported by petroleum operators (e.g. Exxon-Mobil, Petro-Canada), supply firms and industry groups in an effort to encourage students to pursue careers in offshore technologies. These organizations also fund research in subjects such as cold ocean engineering and design (vessel design, mooring operation), operational studies (seismic survey techniques, safety procedures, ice detection and response), environmental investigations (wave and current studies, fish and wildlife monitoring), health and safety (offshore telemedicine), sustainable development (policy design), and many others to generate additional interest and employment in the offshore industry.

Some credit from above text to Review of Offshore Oil and Gas Development by Simon Fraser University, 2004, Royal Roads University: BC Offshore Oil and Gas Socio-Economic Papers, 2004 and BC Stats.