The oil and gas industry needs to commit substantial investment in the development of human potential in order to weather the current economic storm, Nasser Al-Jaidah, chief executive officer of Qatar Petroleum International (QPI), has claimed.

Speaking earlier this month, the chief executive warned: "With the present economic downturn we have a real need for oil and gas companies to invest in human capital to cope with growing global energy demand."

QPI is a state-owned operator and is committed to pursuance of a "high quality Qatarisation" campaign, promoting oil and gas education for domestic workers in order to support growth in the industry.

Furthering this corporate responsibility, QPI offers housing support and transportation for its workers, in addition to educational facilities both for staff and the wider community.

It also provides a bursary for the educational development of its workforce's children.

In other recent comments exemplifying the current adverse trading conditions in the oil and gas industry, Mr Al-Jaidah recently told Dow Jones that QPI would be cutting export volumes to Asia in line with dwindling supply.

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