Governments and organisations must look to form more creative partnerships if they’re to resolve the crisis currently impacting the global Oil & Gas industry, according to Johnathan Johnson, CEO of UK-based engineering recruitment company, Fircroft.

Fircroft recommends more organisations and governing bodies need to follow the example of Aberdeen, Scotland which has signed a creative partnership with the town of Pemba in Mozambique. Thanks to the agreement, Aberdeen-based firms are now able to bid for new work and contracts in Pemba, an area which is said to hold huge reserves of offshore natural gas.

“The Aberdeen/Pemba partnership is just one example of innovation within the global Oil & Gas arena and should certainly be encouraged,” Johnathan Johnson said. “We all know that the North Sea and a number of other markets are down at the moment, but this won’t be the case forever. The industry is cyclical and there are still numerous pockets around the world where there is significant demand for talent such as Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and in a number of African countries, including Mozambique.”

According to Fircroft, UK Oil & Gas firms have a great depth of expertise at their disposal and are not currently utilising it to its full extent. It recommends forming creative partnerships in the downtime regions like Pemba.

“We should also consider the benefits that partnerships with education institutions can bring,” Johnson said. “Particularly in light of the role that they play in nurturing the next generation of Oil & Gas operatives. It’s something that wouldn’t just benefit the UK economy, but the global markets too. We have rafts of talented specialists in this country and exporting our expertise is an option that both the Government and energy firms should be looking to make more use of.”

SIA’s 2015 Global Oil & Gas Market Report providing estimates of the size of the global market, insights into the largest providers and a commentary on current industry trends and M&A activity is available to research subscribers here.