Oil isn't the only thing in short supply

In the next three or four years, there's expected to be a 30 to 40 percent shortage of technical and professional oil workers in the United States, according to Damon Beyer of Katzenbach Partners, a Houston-based management consultancy that specializes in the energy sector.

Over a quarter of the industry's highly skilled employees - petroleum engineers, process engineers, geologists, geophysicists and the like - are eligible for retirement in two years, said Beyer.

"It's a real issue," said Beyer. "Success in attracting new people into the work force is limited."

Worldwide, the industry's "people deficit" is expected to reach up to 15 percent by 2010, according to Pritesh Patel, an associate director at Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

Continue reading about oil worker shortages and The Perfect Labor Storm 2.0