Women are "chronically" under-represented in the oil and gas industry and the sector is losing out by failing to draw on their skills, a study said on Wednesday. Women account for just 22 percent of workers in the oil and gas sector, said the joint study by the World Petroleum Council and Boston Consulting Group entitled "Untapped Reserves: Promoting Gender Balance in Oil and Gas".
But on average, women represent 38 percent of the workforce in major oil producing nations, it said. Only one percent of the industry's CEOs are female. "Oil and gas companies are failing to fully leverage a potentially sizeable and critical pool of talent," said the report, released on the sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress in Istanbul.
"Women have been chronically under-represented in the industry historically and remain so today," it said, saying the proportion of women was lower than in any other sector.