What trends will shape oil and gas hiring in 2025?
That was the question Rigzone posed to Dave Mount, Executive Vice President of Louisiana-based OneSource Professional Search, a Xenspire Company, and Brian Binke, the President and CEO of Michigan based the Birmingham Group, an affiliate of Sanford Rose Associates.
Responding to the query, Mount told Rigzone that OneSource Professional Search sees “a mixed hiring market in 2025 as several factors play out”.
“First the bad news – continuing energy sector M&A activity and larger company staff reductions … will put more qualified people on the street and also accelerate early retirements,” Mount said.
in a statement sent to Rigzone recently by the Chevron team. In a statement sent to Rigzone last month by the BP team, .
“Good news would be that 2025 will be a great year to pick up talented people who would normally not make moves from larger ‘stable’ companies and multiple deepwater projects will bring on first oil in 2025,” Mount added.
Mount told Rigzone that “more cash from new oil production, lessening regulatory burdens, and continued retirements of the boomer generation could increase hiring, albeit incrementally”.
The OneSource Professional Search Executive Vice President also highlighted to Rigzone that the company recently attended the North American Prospect Expo (NAPE), which is described on the event’s website as “the energy industry’s marketplace for the buying, selling and trading of prospects and producing properties”.
“The buzz we got from our recent NAPE attendance suggests that natural gas development is gaining interest due to expected increase in demand, due to a confluence of lifting of LNG export facility permitting bans and AI driven data center expansions … creating demand for long term dedicated supply of natural gas to fuel electricity generation facilities for new data centers,” Mount told Rigzone.
The OneSource Professional Search Executive Vice President noted that “geopolitical events will also have influence with potential (or not) peace in the Middle East and Ukraine, which may affect the world supply/demand balance for oil”.
“It will certainly be an interesting year,” Mount told Rigzone.
In his response to Rigzone’s question, Binke said “the oil and gas industry is adjusting to significant shifts as many of the most experienced professionals near retirement”.
Binke told Rigzone that he believes “this will create critical skill gaps”.
“To address this, companies should be focusing on recruiting young talent while also enhancing the skills of their mid-career professional staff,” Binke said.
“This strategy should help them merge fresh perspectives with established expertise,” he added.
OneSource Professional Search describes itself on its website as an executive and technical search firm. Mount told Rigzone that the business focuses primarily on U.S. oil and gas jobs or companies that are based in the U.S. with international operations. Mount also highlighted to Rigzone that OneSource Professional Search was acquired by Boston-based Xenspire Group in September 2024.
The Birmingham Group describes itself on its site as a top construction executive search firm. One of the company’s focus areas is oil and gas energy construction, the group’s site shows.
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