As many as 5,500 Omani oilfield workers have so far secured alternative employment under the government-led Redeployment Strategy designed to help tackle a wave of layoffs sparked by the international oil price slump, a top official of the Ministry of Oil and Gas has revealed.
Salim bin Nasser al Aufi, Under-Secretary, said the programme continues to come to the aid of retrenched or laid-off nationals nearly three years since it was launched in early 2015 at the outset of the downturn.
“To date, we have redeployed 5,500 people; you don’t hear about this because we do it quietly,” Al Aufi said at an event hosted by the Oman Society for Petroleum Services (OPAL) to mark the launch of Ta’sis — a programme for entrepreneurship development and SME formation in the Oil & Gas industry.
Speaking at the event, the Under-Secretary noted that the industry, given the ongoing low oil price environment, continues to shed workers who then need to be redeployed. One particular problem being faced in this regard is the challenge of finding suitable alternative openings “that match the existing job you just had, either in terms of location, pay benefits, or in some cases, the contract duration”, he said.
While most of the oilfield projects do have a need for Omani workers, this requirement is primarily for a limited period and not for the “indefinite” duration that many nationals seek, Al Aufi pointed out. “The companies don’t want to employ somebody necessarily for life; they want an experienced person to fill a gap and then let go once the project is completed,” he observed.
Al Aufi cited in this regard imminent layoffs at the Mukhaizna heavy oil and BP Khazzan gas projects as major construction works at these sites near completion. Omanis account for quite a percentage of the workforce — which reached a size of 10,000-11,000 at its peak — engaged in the construction of facilities at the Mukhaizna site. Likewise, construction of Phase 1 of the BP Khazzan project is also winding down as gas production ramps up, he noted.
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