A global recession, dwindling hydrocarbon resources, and rising exploration and production costs are cyclical issues that pale in comparison to the oil and gas industry's biggest problem -- its longstanding crisis of an exponentially shrinking pool of skilled and experienced professionals. This predicament is exacerbated by the world's insatiable demand for oil and gas; a demand that may go unmet for the seemingly simple reason that the industry's human resources are at capacity. (This description was derived from the article abstract.)
