?Like independent producers, the single largest threat facing national oil companies (NOCs) is a lack of skilled personnel, reports KPMG International in “Key Issues for Rising National Oil Companies” based on a survey.


Director-level NOC executives polled believe investment in training is one of the keys to future growth and smaller NOCs are more concerned with declining domestic reserves. All of the executives polled said a lack of skilled personnel is the biggest threat to their businesses going forward.


“The rapid growth of the national oil company sector has outstripped the availability of employees in many parts of the world, and it is now a real risk to the future of some of these companies as they and their contractors struggle to meet energy demand and deal with the issues created by a workforce approaching retirement age,” says Anthony Lobo, head of KPMG’s U.K. oil and gas practice.


The survey comes on the back of a growing confidence among NOCs to produce their own oil with less reliance on outside support. Some of the world’s largest exporters of oil and gas are state-owned, including Saudi Aramco, the Iranian National Oil Co. and Gazprom.
The smaller NOCs (75%) are more concerned with declining domestic reserves and political risk (63%) as the biggest risk factors threatening their own companies, he says.


“This report finds an interesting dichotomy between the largest and smaller national oil companies and their concerns. It is interesting to note their mutual concern regarding political instability and the risks associated with it, a factor that could affect all companies, large or small,” Lobo says. “The lack of skilled personnel is the chief concern of larger national oil companies, far greater than their smaller counterparts, who are principally concerned with the more immediate issue of declining domestic reserves.”


He notes an increasingly important role service companies have with NOCs’ projects. “I predict that the growing power of service companies will play a significant role in the future of the industry.”

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