Energy companies should not to return to 'bad habits' when
oil prices begin to show signs of recovery
Latest in a series of online ADIPEC Energy Dialogues focuses
on the need to embrace digital change in order to move forward in a
new era for oil and gas
Structural cost changes made during COVID-19 pandemic must be
sustained by Oil and Gas operators to ensure business
continuity
ABU DHABI, UAE, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The oil and
gas industry has been impacted severely due to the COVID-19
pandemic; however, with the industry now actively embracing the
digital transition and moving to new grounds to sustain itself,
business continuity amidst the current downturn has a pivotal role
to play.
Participating in an online ADIPEC Energy Dialogue Webinar,
Chikezie Nwosu, CEO of WalterSmith
in Nigeria, a world class
integrated energy solutions provider said that although the oil and
gas industry has previously experienced similar shocks to supply
and demand, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is being felt over
a much shorter period and far more aggressively than before.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly shown us that oil price is
not in control of any oil and gas company or country, as even the
largest oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia and Russia are ill-equipped to adjust to what we
are experiencing today," Nwosu explained. "The focus for companies
now is to control their costs to ensure business continuity for
when the oil prices eventually recover. This can be done by
continuing with the structural costs changes that were made during
the pandemic."
However, Nwosu warns that bad habits often return when oil
prices show signs of recovery, something he has seen happen on
numerous occasions in the past.
Discussing the role of technology in navigating the unfamiliar
economic conditions, Nwosu said that WalterSmith has been able to
successfully continue operations using a combination of effective
logistics planning for maintenance and operations, and the use of
technology for remote monitoring of assets.
"Reliance on technology in field operations in Nigeria is slowly continuing to grow and,
while drones were already being deployed for surveillance in the
field operations before the COVID-19 outbreak, many previously
manual tasks will now be automated or can be remotely accessed," he
said.
Turning the dialogue towards the specific challenges faced by
oil and gas companies in the time of a pandemic, Nwosu highlighted
several issues including the lack of direct access to field
operations, managing expectations for restricted community access
to operations, not having expert personnel in the field to do
necessary production optimisation, in addition to dealing with
skeletal services from regulators and government partners which
means that all approval processes are taking much longer.
Looking into the future, WalterSmith will no longer be an oil
and gas company; but rather an Integrated Energy Company where the
focus is on delivering energy from cleaner sources. As part of this
process, Walter Smith has partnered
with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO)
to build a 500-hectare Eco-Industrial Park in which the company
will transition from 300 MW of gas power, first to 500 MW, then
1,000 MW of solar power by 2025/2026. By this time, all the power
that the company requires for operations and consumer distribution
will be through solar energy.
Nwosu believes that while international energy companies are
taking the energy transition extremely seriously, the advantage for
WalterSmith is that as an independent, small player in the market,
the company can be more nimble than the oil giants by making the
right changes now, and driving the energy transition forward with
the right partners.
"The energy transition is simply good business which is being
driven by our respect for humanity and the environment, rather than
all the tensions around financing for oil and gas," Nwosu
added.
The ADIPEC Energy Dialogue is a series of weekly online thought
leadership events created by dmg events, organisers of the annual
Abu Dhabi International Exhibition and Conference. Featuring key
stakeholders and decision-makers in the oil and gas industry, the
dialogues focus on how the industry is evolving and transforming in
response to the rapidly changing energy market.
With this year's in-person ADIPEC exhibition and conference
postponed to November 2021, the
ADIPEC Energy Dialogue, along with insightful webinars, podcasts,
and online panels continue to connect the oil and gas industry,
with the challenges and opportunities shaping energy markets in the
run-up to and following, a planned four-day virtual ADIPEC
conferences, exhibition and awards ceremony taking place from
November 9-12.
The ADIPEC 2020 virtual conferences and awards ceremony will
bring together energy leaders, ministers, global oil and gas CEOs
as well as the engineering faculty to assess the collective
measures the industry needs to put in place to fast-track recovery,
post COVID-19.
To watch the full ADIPEC Energy Dialogue go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUhSD3uDmeY&t=154s.
ADIPEC is the world's foremost meeting place to identify
innovative ideas, exchange knowledge, launch revolutionary new
products, strike diverse partnerships and do business.
About ADIPEC
Held under the patronage of the President of the United Arab Emirates, His Highness Sheikh
Khalifa Bin Zayed AL Nahyan, and organised by the Global Energy
division of dmg events, ADIPEC is the global meeting point for oil
and gas professionals. Standing as one of the world's top energy
events, and the largest in the world, ADIPEC is a knowledge-sharing
platform that enables industry experts to exchange ideas and
information that shape the future of the energy sector. The 36th
edition of ADIPEC Virtual will be hosted by the Abu Dhabi National
Oil Company (ADNOC) and supported by the UAE Ministry of Energy
& Industry, Masdar, the Abu Dhabi Chamber, the Abu Dhabi
Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi Ports and the
Department of Education and Knowledge. dmg events is committed to
helping the growing international energy community. To know more,
visit: www.adipec.com.
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