The US energy policy being debated presently in Congress should include provisions that address the oil and gas industry's looming personnel shortage, according to North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven.
Hoeven serves as the new chairman of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) and heads the commission's petroleum professionals "blue ribbon" task force, which is "charged with developing solutions to the precipitous decline of new workers in an industry that continues to grow ever more important to national security," IOGCC said.
In a letter to President George W. Bush, Hoeven stated, "Currently, only a small percentage of graduate students in petroleum science in the US are US citizens. While this nation should feel honored that the rest of the world flocks to our universities to learn about petroleum technology, these scientists will not stay in the US but will be returning to their own countries."
Task force
In June, the task force released a series of specific recommendations to address industry's potentially threatening worker shortage (OGJ Online, June 11, 2002).
The task force found that both federal and state governments should address the current personnel situation, focusing their efforts in three areas: education of key stakeholders, public and student outreach, and improved research and development.
"This may not be an obvious problem today but will be a real problem in less than a decade," Hoeven said, adding, "When the shortage of petroleum professionals becomes a reality, it will be too late to deal with (it) successfully."
