The demand for oil and gas will increase substantially in the next ten to twenty years. The energy industry knows where oil and gas supplies are located, and can meet the demand if the industry promotes the benefits of collaboration in knowledge sharing. The industry will need highly qualified technical communities of practice who can communicate effectively and expand new technologies and best practices.

These key technical community professionals will effectively transfer and promote knowledge sharing among peers to ensure the success of major projects. These knowledge sharing communities of tomorrow will be a key component for corporations to be successful in their quest to protect the health, safety and environmental aspects of their projects. The knowledge sharing community core team business model is instrumental in expanding best practices and delivering recommendations in an easy and effective manner.

Successful corporations will seek to improve and increase their collaborative efforts on a global scale. Those corporations investing the proper time and talent in community business models today will reap the profits of collaboration in knowledge sharing, and secure a successful seat in the global energy arena of tomorrow.

Keywords:
natural gas, information, prediction, knowledge sharing, expertise, successful corporation, society of petroleum engineers, face-to-face meeting, collaboration, knowledge management
Subjects:
Professionalism, Training, and Education, Information Management and Systems, Communities of practice, Knowledge management
Copyright 2003, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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