Workplace discriminatory issues within the oil and gas industry will be the focus of an event to be hosted by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) in Aberdeen, Scotland next month.

The event, titled ‘Breaking the Cycle of Discrimination - Workplace Challenges in the Oil and Gas Industry’ will take place on October 1 and 2 at the Norwood Hall Hotel.

It will feature a keynote address from the Scottish Minister for Energy, Fergus Ewing MSP, from the director of Skills Development Scotland, Mike Duncan, followed by speakers from a number of major operating companies, service companies and industry bodies including Shell, ConocoPhillips, Total, Schlumberger, Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Decom North Sea and Oil & Gas UK.

The workshop will raise critical diversity and discrimination issues in the oil and gas industry worldwide, highlighting the realities of workplace interaction, team dynamics and recruitment, with special emphasis on real case studies.

Dr Eve Sprunt, the first vice president of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, US, who was also the third and last female to hold the position of president of the SPE International, will present based on groundbreaking research data made available by BP, Petronas, Total, Statoil and Schlumberger.

Ross Lowdon, chairman of the SPE Aberdeen, said: “Much progress is being made to battle discrimination within the workplace, specifically within the oil and gas industry. People are generally afraid to express themselves and their actual views on such issues - more often than not, we spend more time at work than we do at home; hence we should be all comfortable with the environment we work in and the culture we are a part of.

“This international workshop will take the workplace discrimination issues a step further and address those areas where we must work together to introduce best practice.  This unique workshop will offer our industry another perspective on what matters most – our people.”

The workshop is the brainchild of the SPE Aberdeen section’s Another Perspective (AP) Committee, which was set up five years ago to focus on gender equality in the industry.

The upcoming discrimination event is expected to evoke industry-changing outcomes based on the influence of SPE International and the SPE Aberdeen AP Committee.

“The oil and gas industry has a global workforce of many different nationalities, cultures, religions, ages and genders.  These are the people who drive the success of the industry.  SPE Aberdeen is a firm believer in the inclusion of the people who contribute to this industry which is why the board agreed with the current AP Chair proposal to expand the mandate of the previous Another Perspective Committee,” said Lowdon.

“Following the major success of the ‘Another Perspective on Risk’ conference in March, I am confident that this is another event which will act as a platform of debate for critical industry change,” he added. - TradeArabia News Service