How can the Oil and Gas Industry Adapt to the Energy Transformation?

The oil and gas company of the future will survive the energy transformation through innovation and collaboration. Drivers of change include population growth expected to reach another 1.5 billion by the end of the century and demands by intergovernmental organizations to lower the industry’s global hydrocarbon footprint. Adapting to growing demands for transparency regarding destructive refining and waste disposal while exceeding energy consumption demands will also require companies to start and continue dialogues around improvements that protect our planet from further harm. To meet these demands, companies will have to be sensible with expenditures by choosing to purchase the most eco-friendly and low cost barrels. Choosing to buy barrels from companies committed to providing low carbon emission fuels while still being cost-efficient is a challenge that new technology can meet. All stakeholders agree on the desire for energy sources to be cleaner, consistent, abundant, and affordable. Saudi Aramco and other leading companies have begun to make vital shifts towards a more respectable and innovative oil and gas industry by investing in technologies to improve and create better processes. Much progress can be continued through the use of: fully automated oil rigs that improve safety, performance, and efficiency (Current rigs operate at 77% efficiency, according to McKinsey research.) water recycling and oil recycling efforts digital oil fields that produce real time data biofuels development to replace oil consumption collaboration with companies specializing in artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, quantum computing, nano-technologies, earth and space sciences, and robotics creating greener oil products Companies that take the lead in these areas of innovation are sure to survive the energy transformation, while companies that continue to pursue profit over efficiency and environmental stability will lose market share as investors pour more dollars into what the wider populace desires. Recently, Mohammed Y Al Qahtani, SVP upstream, Saudi Aramco summarized his company’s upcoming moves in the following statement: “If we will rekindle our passion for innovation and advanced technology. If we commit to the investments needed to expand supply, if we continue to develop lower carbon, cleaner oil and gas products, and technology, then I believe an uncertain, and unambiguous future is the very stone from which we will carve a stronger and more capital in the future.”