The report highlights the acute resource shortages in the energy sector, particularly in oil supply, refining capacity, talent, and experience. These shortages are constraining the industry's growth in a period when high oil prices are driving international oil companies and national oil companies to increase their investment significantly. The industry is stretched in terms of human resources, with a widening gap between the skill and experience levels needed in the industry and those available. The report proposes three initiatives that, if carried out in combination, have the potential to enable oil companies to reverse the decline, close the human resource gap, and reclaim the growth path that awaits the industry. The review of trends in US oil and gas companies between 2002 and 2007 reveals a mismatch within company strategies, with a headcount reduction of about 10% across the industry during these four years, while many companies were beginning to ramp up their spending in other areas to capitalize on rising commodity prices and accelerating demand for their product.
