SHELL – GIRLS IN ENERGY LONG VERSION SUBTITLES
“Shell has a vital role to play in inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers. It’s vital that
we develop and recruit the right people to meet one of the biggest challenges facing the world
today, delivering affordable and sustainable energy whilst reducing CO2 emissions.”
“We have massive underrepresentation of women coming in at all levels, particularly some of the
technician levels. Part of the objective is to be a bit of a myth buster, so we offer the opportunity for
girls between 14 and 16, really seeing first hand what this industry’s about.”
“Working with North East Scotland College, we developed a skills in work programme called Girls in
Energy. It’s a one year course that’s designed to open the eyes of young females to the wealth of
careers available to them within the energy industry.
“The Girls in Energy programme provides an opportunity for 14-16 year old girls to be involved with
the North East Scotland College, to work with an industry like Shell and to learn how an industry
works but also learn how the college works whilst still within a school environment.
“One of the beauties of working at Shell is it’s a very networked organisation, it’s very important to
have a voice and the network allows women to have a voice and it raises their visibility within the
organisation. So I think it’s a fantastic programme and I think it’s very much needed to encourage
young girls to consider thinking about a career in engineering.
“So the Girls In Energy programme puts some practical aspects to it and allows them the opportunity
to go and speak to some of the engineers.
“I enjoyed trying out the raft, seeing what procedures you would have to go through if you were in a
helicopter accident, as I know one day I’m going to have to do the survival training.
I enjoyed going into the huet, we got to go into it at the side and we got to smash the window out.
“I enjoyed handling all the hoses and getting a chance to spray some foam everywhere, it was really
fun.
“I quite enjoyed putting on the breathing equipment, and seeing how firefighters put it on and
realising it’s not as difficult as you think it might be to put it on.
“My favourite part of today was when we were at Survivex and we were with the firefighters, they
were so nice and it was so cool to see how everything worked.
“Today I’ve learned all about offshore training at Survivex and all the different things that they do
there, and it seems like a really fun thing to do and I really enjoyed getting to sit in the helicopter
and see all the helicopters and all the maintenance they were doing on it in the engine.
“Historically the oil and gas industry didn’t attract a lot of female pilots or female workers which is a
real shame, because it’s no longer about gender, it’s about getting the best pilots or getting the best
engineers and so we have a very large pool of talent that is being absorbed by other industries that
we would very much like to tap into.
“Today I learned a bit more about more about what the chemists do, and I thought it was really
interesting to see what each of the different people did.
“We did interior designing and I’m honestly thinking about it as a career after doing it today because
I loved it that much.
“If there’s a certain job you want to do there’s lots of different ways to get into the job, not just
through a degree.
“Once you get into Shell it’s not like you’re in a fixed job, you can move around within the company
and Shell will help to train you.
“What I enjoyed most about today was the exercise the hydrocarbon dispatching team made us do.
“We were put in two teams and it was a quiz with a three minute challenge at the end, it did get
really competitive but at the end of the day we all got prizes and we all enjoyed ourselves so that’s
all that matters.
“Today I learned lots about how the gas plant at St Fergus actually works. How the gas is taken in
from offshore, how it’s processed separating the liquid from the gas and then put into our houses
and I found this really interesting as obviously we use gas every day and it’s such a vital part of our
lives.
“Production is a lot more varied than I thought, I didn’t realise how much there was to it until I sat
down and listened to people speaking about it.
“It’s definitely given more of an insight into what each person does.
“I just enjoyed it in general, learning about the engineering sort of aspects of it.
“It’s been such a good experience, completely worth the two weeks of my holidays, I’ve learned so
much and taken so much out of it.
“The girls know that they’re coming into this work environment and that Shell have a duty of care to
look after them and it’s a real success story that the girls are clearly seeing this as an industry that
they want to go into.
“We have inspired the next generation of young females to consider a career working in the energy
industry and that’s got to be a real bonus.
“We are facing a major skills crisis in the oil industry and given that half the population are woman, if
we fail to engage and communicate just the scale and excitement then I think we’ll be impoverishing
future generations of talent and innovation.”