Oil and gas salaries highest in Europe after U.K. investment boom: Survey

Average salaries up 14 per cent from 2012

LONDON (Reuters) — Oil and gas workers in Europe last year earned more money than their peers elsewhere in the world as the region was spurred on by record-breaking investments in Britain, an annual industry survey showed on Wednesday.

Average oil and gas salaries in Europe rose to 72,714 pounds ($134,642 Cdn) last year, up 14 per cent on 2012 levels and overtaking Australian pay, according to a survey of over 20,000 oil and gas professionals published by jobs site Rigzone.

"Professionals in Europe have particularly benefited from the record investment levels now being poured into the North Sea," said Dominic Simpson, an executive at Rigzone, in a statement accompanying the findings.

Particularly investments in the British part of the North Sea rose to a record high of 14.4-billion pounds ($26.6 billion Cdn) last year, following tax incentives to develop areas that are harder to access.

Average U.K. salaries from the mud engineer to the oil major executive rose to 79,522 pounds ($147,281 Cdn) per year, compared with a global industry average of 61,294 pounds ($113,521 Cdn), the survey found.

Pay packages in the oil and gas sector are typically lucrative because the growing need for skilled labour is increasing competition and pushing salaries higher.

Among European workers, graduates saw the highest year-on-year rise in compensation of over 20 per cent to an average of 57,650 pounds ($106,781 Cdn), the survey showed.

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