The high levels of employee training and development within the Middle Eastern oil and gas industry could benefit the clean energy sector in the long-run, a new report has concluded.

Research carried out by the global executive research firm Heidrick & Struggles revealed that, while the amount of money put into clean energy development grew by 60 per cent to around £175 billion over the course of 2007, the sector is still hindered by a shortage of human capital.

Of those industry senior executives polled, 37 per cent called this shortage of skilled workers "very serious", with 59 per cent believing it to be "moderately serious", particularly when it comes to management professionals.

However, a significant proportion of those questioned said that they felt the oil and gas sector to be a possible future source of skilled workers, with the Middle East being the world's "bread basket" for energy sector workers.

Ayman Haddad, managing partner for the Middle East and North Africa, noted: "While the global clean energy industry faces this serious issue, in the Middle East there is a huge opportunity, simply because the oil and gas sector is the principal training ground for future managers in the clean energy sector

"As well as this, with this region’s large population of young people, we have a huge pool of future talent, providing there is a focus on education and training to address this need."