The energy transition is changing the way the oil and gas sector needs to look at cultivating it future workforce and, in particular, leaders.

However, even with the transition, any major energy company will need the “traditional workforce” that has made it into what it is today, according to Stephen Arbogast, professor of the practice of finance and director of the Kenan-Flagler Energy Center at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill.

“It is not an industry that is going to disappear anytime soon,” Arbogast said of oil and gas in a recent interview with Hart Energy Editorial Director Len Vermillion.

Still, the energy transition is real, Arbogast said, and it’s going to happen. Therefore, a portion of the future energy workforce will need to be able to help oil and gas companies navigate that transition.

“The first ingredient that management needs to convey to today’s energy students is we take the transition seriously and oil and gas companies are going to be a major part of the solution,” he said.


Jump to a topic:

  • Energy transition workforce (0:50)
  • Taking the transition seriously (2:15)
  • Hybrid solution needed (3:05)
  • Energy MBAs today (4:05)
  • Consolidating industry (5:20)
  • Sustainable public policy (6:00)
  • How to make money (7:05)
  • Stigma toward oil (9:25)
  • LNG and fracking example (11:40)
  • Challenging renewables (13:05)
  • What hasn’t changed (13:45)
  • What has changed (14:40)
  • Kenan-Flagler Energy MBA (15:20)
  • Staff with industry experience (17:05)
  • Including the entire value chain (17:50)

Stephen Arbogast and his colleague Dan Domeracki, an industry veteran with over 40 years of experience at Schlumberger who currently serves as associate director for the UNC Kenan-Flagler Energy Center, will participate in a three-part series in upcoming issues of Oil and Gas Investor.