Zoe Suren, Founder and Managing Director at EnergiLink

If there is one thing that I have learnt is certain in the future of the upstream market, it is the uncertainty. There is a clear requirement for the resources that the sector provides but the long term the focus is on moving away the dependency on fossil fuels and focus on low carbon energy sources.

Having specialised in technical search in the upstream sector for the last 15 years, I have experienced the roller coaster that the industry has presented. Whilst many of our competitors have moved away to pastures new (and perhaps greener), we have made the decision to stick around and support the industry whatever it throws at us. Working with highly educated, extremely knowledgeable people who we have relied on to power our planet for decades is just too good to turn our backs on.

And throw things at us it did. Having founded Zinc, in the boom times of 2013 - we started EnergiLink 3 years ago, on International Women’s day 2020. Just next day the oil price plunged by 24% to $30 and then 2 weeks later London went in to its first COVID lockdown – a somewhat different experience and a real test of our resilience and humour.

The company was created with the view to bring upstream talent both back into the E&P sector and then also facilitate a path to transition in other sectors such as CCUS, Geothermal and Hydrogen – hence the name ‘EnergiLink’. The first couple of years were a path of slow recovery in O&G, a battle of organising hiring in a pandemic and little requirement for external hires in the energy transition sectors, at least for upstream staff. The majority of the projects that we worked on during this time were a handful of ambitious E&P’s fighting the curve and mid-stream/downstream skills in to CCUS technology companies, mainly focussed in Europe. It felt that the dream to create a path to transition for the upstream sector was still far away.

The last year has shown me and my team that sometimes a little persistence and patience is key. Whilst the E&P desk is showing real signs of recovery and talent being recognised again as a commodity, our team has also worked on numerous interesting projects including Helium, Lithium, Geothermal and the original CCUS and H2 that, globally, is starting to gain traction to really grow and utilise Subsurface skills.

Our dream, when we set out, was to become known as the search firm embracing change whilst recognising reliance on all angles of our dependence for energy. A female run business pushing diversity at all levels. We are not there yet – however whilst we have still have ambitious growth plans, we are pleased with the progress we have made so far. We realise that in a changing landscape like energy it is the small steps that you take everyday to keep moving rather than the sprint to the finish line.

The challenges that we face look much different now. With all this growth and focus on energy security where does this talent come from. How do we find, attract and retain top people in an industry that has been hit so hard? And with the recognition of valuable upstream skills what route is the best to commit the next decade of your career to?

Maybe the answer is to take the small steps with persistence and patience, to ensure that whatever the industry throws at us we are well positioned to grab it with both hands.

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: EnergiLink