UK Oil and Gas Industry Sees Job Vacancy Surge

The UK oil and gas industry has seen a surge in job vacancies between 2010 and 2013.

CareerBuilder.co.uk revealed job opportunities grew by more than 13% on average across the sector over the period.

The study, which used Economic Modelling Specialists International's labour market database, analysed 10 occupations related to the oil and gas industry between 2010 and 2013.

The research found that physicists, geologists and meteorologists saw the biggest job vacancy increase over the period, with a 25% jump in opportunities.

"The oil and gas industry has continued to add jobs through multiple recessions, as other industries struggled to keep their businesses open and their staffs intact," said Tony Roy, president of CareerBuilder EMEA.

He added: "The good news here is not only will the UK oil and gas industry be adding jobs for many years to come, but the positions can be filled by a wide variety of the workforce - from the highly skilled to support."

In addition, managers in mining and energy saw a 16% hike in vacancies between 2010 and 2013 and enjoyed impressive median hourly earnings of £26.92 ($43.31, €32.27).

But, at the other end of the scale, engineering technicians saw only a 3% rise in job opportunities over the same period and took home £15.64 an hour.

"Over the last year, we have seen a significant increase in traffic to our site, by those seeking opportunities in the oil and gas field, a trend that we expect to continue into 2014," said Duncan Freer, managing director for OilandGasJobSearch.com.

The UK oil and gas industry supports employment of approximately 450,000 throughout the country, either directly or indirectly, according to official figures.

The figures follow the news that British regulators have revealed that they have not found any evidence of gas market manipulation despite claims that traders were fixing prices.

According to a statement by Ofgem and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the watchdogs have concluded after a year-long investigation that there is no evidence of traders rigging prices in Europe's largest gas market, worth £300bn.