Mon, 19 March 2012
Nigerian oil & gas companies are now paying the highest ‘country premium’ of all the major oil & gas production centres to meet booming demand for senior staff, says executive search firm The Curzon Partnership.

The Curzon Partnership explains that oil & gas companies often offer a significant premium to employees in frontier markets to reflect the disruption to their lifestyle of working in those countries.
This can often mean a supplementary country premium worth 45% of their base pay for senior oil & gas staff in Nigeria, taking their total pay to £290k per annum (general manager or equivalent).

According to The Curzon Partnership, oil & gas expats working in Nigeria receive the biggest country premium, because of the number of projects that need talent, local skills shortages and because of the substantial cultural adjustment for expats.

The three frontier markets that offer some of the highest total remuneration in a bid to attract senior staff (general manager or equivalent) are Nigeria, followed by:

• Kurdistan – total pay £234k including a 30% country premium

• Libya – total pay £234k including a 30% country premium

Helen Di Mauro, partner at The Curzon Partnership, says: “Attracting high quality senior ranking managers and technical talent to frontier markets is one of the major challenges facing oil & gas businesses.

“The growth in exploration and production across frontier markets over the last 15 years has created a global fight for talent among oil & gas businesses. There are still roles in more mature regions like the North Sea, but frontier markets will represent an ever-bigger slice of the pie in the future.

“The country premium can be so high that some general managers working overseas can earn more in a year than their company CEO based in the UK or the US.”