Offshore oil and gas investment is accelerating selectively, but the workforce market has fundamentally changed.
Capital is returning to deepwater, subsea, FPSO-based developments, and offshore drilling programs where long-life reserves, geopolitical optionality, and capital resilience intersect. At the same time, offshore talent scarcity has structurally tightened.
Talent availability is no longer cyclical in the traditional sense. Scarcity is now structural, role-specific, and safety-critical, driven by long replacement timelines, constrained
global mobility, and heightened compliance and credential requirements.
Workforce readiness has become a first-order risk to capital delivery, comparable
to long-lead equipment, regulatory approvals, and vessel availability.
Risk concentrates in a small number of execution-defining roles where replacement timelines exceed project windows, creating disproportionate exposure to schedule slippage, HSSE outcomes, and cost escalation.
