The industry body, which represents over 250 companies across the UK, has revealed 10,000 jobs could be created in the sector in the next 12 months.

Following a survey, Subsea UK found that almost one fifth of its membership will need over 2,000 people in the next 12 months to cope with the growth in the industry. The 43 companies that responded to the survey are already seeking to fill 800 vacancies.

“With the UK economy still fairly fragile, it is fantastic that our industry, which is outperforming other sectors and helping lead the country's economic recovery, is creating so many new jobs,” said Neil Gordon, chief executive of Subsea UK. “The challenge for us is finding suitably qualified people to meet immediate demand and attracting new people into the industry to fulfil future demand.”

The British subsea industry, which supports around 50,000 jobs, is expected to grow by 40% in the next two years, capturing over a third of the current global subsea oil and gas market worth £20billion ($31 billion).

Over 50% of survey respondents said that recruiting suitably qualified people was very difficult with 14% believing it was almost impossible. Recruiting semi-qualified people is slightly easier but 45% still believe it is difficult.

Engineers, project managers and technicians are the most sought after positions with ROV operators and sales and marketing positions also in demand.

Extracting the remaining world’s reserves will increasingly fall to the subsea industry – already almost 45% of UKCS production comes from subsea wells with new developments soon to take this up to 70%.