Why is it that in a connected world played upon by the convergent forces of globalisation, liberalisation and technology, the income gap between rich and poor countries continues to widen? Why is it that despite access to similar levels of capital and technology, some companies do so much better than others in the same sector? There is, of course, no single answer to these questions. I pose them, nonetheless, because I find that two of the more common explanations have contemporary relevance to our energy security policy.

The first has to do with people. It is well accepted that superior performance, in the public realm or in a private corporate, rests not simply on the availability of talent but also on the match between such expertise and the task at hand. An oil exploration and production (EP) company needs, for instance, a preponderance of specialists (geoscientists, engineers, etc) rather than gifted generalists.

Our energy security policy rests on two planks — the enhancement of domestic supply and the management of demand. Its success hinges on the continued availability of relevant technocrats. The fly in the ointment is the word ‘continued’. We do not face a shortage of skilled professionals today but it looks like becoming a major bottleneck in the future. This is because of the ‘graying’ of energy professionals worldwide. The consultants, Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), have projected that 50 per cent of the technocrats in the oil/gas industry will retire by 2015 and 80 per cent by 2020. They have also pointed out that the industry is not doing enough to recruit and train new resources and that the consequential erosion in the industries’ knowledge base will impact major projects, operational performance and growth plans.

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