NORTH Sea oil and gas firms must keep taking on young apprentices in areas such as electrical engineering amid the downturn in the sector or undermine the viability of the industry, experts have warned. Deirdre Michie, chief executive of Oil & Gas UK, said: “These are challenging times but we still need people with the right skills to drive forward our sector.” Ms Michie commented after firms tried to breathe fresh life into an industry-wide initiative to encourage firms to take on apprentices which dates from 1999. The renamed Oil and Gas Technical Apprentice Programme is backed by 19 firms including big producers such as Shell and BP and services giant Wood Group. David Cook, chairman of the programme steering group, said apprentices and graduates are the future lifeblood of the industry in the UK North Sea, where reserves could last another 35 years. He said: “Participation can help make organisations more productive and competitive by directly addressing their own skills gaps.”
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