北美石化行业几乎所有领域的公司都预测未来几年将全面增长。

预计加拿大和二叠纪盆地的原油产量将增加。更多液化天然气出口终端和供应管道预计将在未来两年内准备好建设。

然而，标普全球在 CERAWeek 上的一个小组 3 月 21 日讨论称，寻找人才来建设和运营新项目并保持现有能源基础设施在线，正在成为各级劳动力的一项难题。

“其中一些数字可能会让你感到害怕，”能源地球科学和勘探行业支持组织 EnerGEO 联盟总裁兼首席执行官尼基·马丁 (Nikki Martin) 说。马丁指出，美国地球科学研究所2022年预测，到2029年美国将面临13万名地球科学家的短缺。

“如果你正在考虑这些挑战，并且正在考虑我们满足人们需求的能力，那么我们就有一个大问题，”她说。地球科学影响能源行业的各个方面，从天然气和原油的勘探和可持续性到碳捕获等发展方面。

该行业面临的不仅仅是拥有科学学位的工人短缺。政府对整体能源就业状况的最新调查显示，就业岗位持续增长，但合格工人却缺乏。

美国能源部《2023 年美国能源和就业报告》显示，到 2022 年，该行业的就业人数将总体增长 30 万人，达到 810 万个就业岗位。

与此同时，超过80%的能源公司表示寻找合格工人“有些困难”，而48%的非工会公司和29%的工会公司则回应称“非常难”找到合适的工人。工人。

建筑领域的斗争最为激烈。非工会部门报告称，近 60% 的公司在项目人员配备方面遇到了困难。

柏克德（Bechtel）是一家在全球范围内处理大型能源项目的建筑公司，它预测美国墨西哥湾沿岸的项目将面临日益严重的问题。 

“对于我们的专业人员和建筑工艺专业人员来说，这一预测是自 Bechtel 126 年前成立以来我们从未见过的，”Bechtel 全球劳动力服务经理 Natalie Wane 说道。 Wane 表示，她的公司预计德克萨斯州墨西哥湾沿岸的项目需要 20,000 名工艺专业人员，而整个行业在未来两到三年内将在墨西哥湾沿岸地区需要 80,000 名工艺专业人员。

行业分析师认为，该地区目前的手工艺专业人才供应量约为 40,000 名。  

“我们绝对有必要制定一项缓解计划，”韦恩说。 Bechtel 一直在招募高中生，为他们提供建筑职业和学徒计划方面的教育，并联系社区大学招募更多女性，而女性仅占建筑行业职位的 4% 左右。

招聘工作超出了建筑范围。美国石油协会根据与该组织合作的能源公司的建议，制定了培训对该领域感兴趣的人员的课程。

加拿大能源生产商联盟 Pathways Alliance 的战略合作总监帕特里夏·贝利 (Patricia Bailey) 表示，招聘人员常常难以应对潜在工作岗位带来的文化阻力。

贝利向 CERAWeek 小组分享了一个关于该组织在加拿大机场开展的广告活动的故事。

“这场活动的主题是石油作为推动世界发展的燃料，”她说。 “在这个大机场做了三个星期的广告后，我们就被终身禁止入境。我们不再被允许做广告，因为这让消费者感到非常不安。”

小组成员谈到有必要接触进入劳动力市场的年轻人。许多求职者要么不知道石化职业的好处，要么不相信该领域会存在更长时间。

“我们最大的问题是吸引人们将地球科学或坦率地说任何与石油相关的职业视为可行的职业选择，”马丁说。

“这很大程度上是因为我们存在认知问题。人们并不认为这是一个长期的、有成就感的职业，而一些处于职业生涯中期到后期的人确实知道这一点。”

Companies from virtually all segments of the North American petrochemical industry are forecasting growth across the board over the next few years.

More crude production is expected out of Canada and the Permian Basin. More LNG export terminals and the pipelines to supply them are expected to be ready for construction over the next two years.

However, finding the people to build and operate new projects and keep current energy infrastructure online is becoming a struggle at all levels of the workforce, a panel at CERAWeek by S&P Global discussed March 21.

“Some of these numbers might scare you,” said Nikki Martin, president and CEO of EnerGEO Alliance, an organization that supports the energy geoscience and exploration industry. Martin noted that the American Geoscience Institute projected in 2022 that the U.S. will face a shortage of 130,000 geoscientists by 2029.

“If you're looking at these challenges, and you're thinking about the capacity we have to meet the needs of people, we have a big problem,” she said. Geoscience affects all aspects of the energy industry, from the exploration and sustainability for gas and crude to developing aspects such as carbon capture.

The industry is not just facing a shortage of workers with science degrees. The last government survey of the overall energy employment situation showed continued job growth coupled with a lack of qualified workers.

The Department of Energy’s U.S. Energy and Employment Report for 2023 showed an overall growth in the industry of 300,000 workers in 2022, to a total of 8.1 million overall jobs in the industry.

At the same time, more than 80% of energy firms reported “some difficulty” with finding qualified workers, while 48% of non-union firms and 29% of union firms responded that it was “very difficult” to find workers.

The struggle is most acute within the construction segment. The non-union segment reported that almost 60% of firms had a very difficult time staffing projects.

Bechtel, a construction firm that handles large-scale energy projects around the globe, has forecasted a growing problem for projects along the U.S. Gulf Coast. 

“For both our professional staff and our construction craft professionals, the forecast is something we've never seen before since Bechtel’s inception 126 years ago,” said Natalie Wane, global workforce services manager for Bechtel. Wane said her company is forecasting a need for 20,000 craft professionals for projects in the Texas Gulf Coast, while the industry as a whole will need 80,000 craft professionals in the Gulf Coast region over the next two to three years.

Industry analysts believe the current supply in the region is around 40,000 craft professionals.  

“It's absolutely imperative that we build a mitigation program,” Wane said. Bechtel has been pursuing high school students to educate them on construction careers and apprenticeship programs, as well as reaching out to community colleges to recruit more women, who make up only around 4% of construction tradecraft positions.

The recruiting efforts go beyond construction. The American Petroleum Institute has established a curriculum for training people interested in the field, using advice taken from the energy companies the organization works with.

Recruiters often have difficulty with the cultural headwinds from a potential job pool, said Patricia Bailey, director of strategic engagement for Pathways Alliance, a coalition of Canadian energy producers.

Bailey shared a story with the CERAWeek panel about an advertising campaign the organization ran in a Canadian airport.

“The campaign is about oil as the fuel that moves the world,” she said. “Within three weeks of advertising at this big airport, we were banned for life. We weren’t allowed to advertise any more because it was so upsetting to the consumer.”

Panel members spoke of the need to reach out to young people entering the work force. Many job prospects are either unaware of the benefits of a petrochemical career or don’t believe the field will be around much longer.

“Our biggest problem is attracting people to even consider geoscience or frankly any petroleum-related profession as a viable career choice,” Martin said.

“That's largely because we have a perception problem. People do not see this as a long-term, fulfilling career that some people in their late mid-career to late career really know that it is.”