In a speech at the "Strategies for High-Performance in Volatile Times" session sponsored by Hart Energy Publishing and Oracle this morning, Matt Simmons, internationally famous investment banker and analyst to the upstream industry, made several interesting comments about the state of the oil and gas industry. One of his main points was sustainability -- which he said is something the industry has strayed away from in the last 5-6 years. "Are we actually still sustainable or are we on a path to unsustainability? Instead of forming a committee to figure out what went wrong the last few years, everyone went on a witch hunt to figure out why we had $140 a barrel oil," Simmons said. Simmons also relayed human resource concerns. "Two thirds of the workforce in the oil and gas industry will retire in the next 5-7 years. In the last 15 weeks, the industry has laid off 300,000 people." The solution according to Simmons? Restructuring. "We have to begin the most urgent restructuring that brings hydrocarbons to the infrastructure," Simmons said. To view the entire presentation, sign up for the archived webinar at OilandGasInvestor.com. Lindsay Goodier, Online Editor, OilandGasInvestor.com