A new war in the Middle East once again has millions of people around the world asking the question famously posed in the protest song “War” popularized in the early 1970s: “War…What is it good for?” Many answer with the song’s cry of “absolutely nothin’!” However, we know by now that there certainly are plenty of people who benefit and profit from another new war.
All those naval ships, Air Force planes, and ballistic missiles must come from somewhere. In the U.S., it’s no secret that the military-industrial complex benefits to the tune of billions of dollars every time a prolonged international conflict breaks out. But who else profits from war?
When that war happens to be in the Middle East and it cuts into the global oil supply, sending prices skyrocketing, then oil and gas companies around the world stand to make billions more as they receive north of $100 per barrel of oil that was only recently selling for $70 per barrel or less.
With all that extra money flowing in and global supply suffering a major setback, will U.S. oil and gas companies seek to expand supply? According to a Marketplace article by Mitchell Hartman, that certainly seems to be a good possibility.
Hartman notes that Tom Kloza, chief energy advisor at Gulf Oil, believes “there’s an incentive to increase production,” since “[t]he sharp rise in oil and gas prices has been a boon for the energy sector.” Kloza anticipates that “we’ll see the labor force ramp up a little bit. When you’re drilling for oil in the Permian Basin, it’s very labor-intensive.”
This is good news, because Hartman points out that “[t]he workforce has actually been declining for more than a decade.” Kloza notes that “break-even numbers” for projects in the Permian Basin and Gulf of Mexico can now be met thanks to recent price increases, making these projects now promising when they weren’t just before the war.
Unfortunately, the ongoing industrial skills gap issue means that new oil and gas workers with advanced skills will likely be in short supply. This creates a challenge for oil and gas companies hoping to seize the day to ramp up production quickly. How do these companies and schools train the next generation of professionals with the oil and gas skills they need to succeed?
A thorough review of training systems is a great place to start. Do employees and students have access to hands-on training with actual components they’ll encounter on the job? If not, partnering with established companies to provide industrial-quality training systems that will stand the test of time will help ensure a competent workforce. Be sure to check out DAC Worldwide’s variety of hands-on oil and gas training systems that feature the real-world components workers will encounter in the field!
