I saw an advertisement in the Economist for an Oil and Energy Analyst, with expertise on "key OPEC and non-OPEC oil producing countries." The ad also notes that the candidate should have considerable knowledge as to "the complex politics of the oil markets." After reading this ad, I started pondering how one becomes qualified to become an oil and energy analyst. It must be very difficult for someone to have a strong grasp of the largely volatile leading oil producing companies, especially when there is so much unrest currently in many of the middle eastern nations. Does college offer a course called OPEC 101 or Understanding Oil Producing Nations? Certainly, the key components to this position must be learned on the job...but which job? An economist? Some sort of business analyst? I also wondered how this position might change in the next 10 to 20 years or so. Will there be analysts for the wind power and solar power markets? Are there already such positions? It seems that to be an energy analyst, even one that focuses primarily on oil, one would still need to be familiar to some extent with alternative energy sources. For instance, won't the global oil market face considerable changes if ethanol or biodiesel really takes off?

Another thought I had was about engineering courses in universities. Are they instructing students on careers in alternative energy? I know that there is a focus at some colleges on power plant professions, as there is a shortage of professionals for coal-fired power plants. It seems to follow that there should be a future workforce being prepped to take over in the alternative energy market and to grab the ball and run with it.