The other day I was having dinner with some colleagues from the O&G industry and two things caught my attention. First being, people still talk about the crisis of the O&G industry and how it’s been affecting their businesses etc. Well, as harsh as it may be, there is no more O&G crisis….in fact, it’s been long over, since 2015. We are now living the new norm of the O&G industry, oil prices are unlikely to reach the $120/ barrel like in 2014 for a while and companies need to adapt if they want to survive and remain profitable. It feels like we are still within a crisis because it took long for companies to accept the new norm and effectively acting for a change, making it all a slow transition. The second thing that caught my attention is how people (specially those with more than 20 years seniority), enjoy talking about the golden times of the O&G industry, that time when it was one of the most attractive industries to work for despite all the risks (we all remember Piper Alpha). It´s a nostalgia feeling that fills in the room, we spend most of the dinner talking about the good old times (as if it would somehow come back) instead of debating about the future. And again, here I am to deliver the bad news. I strongly believe that the golden times are not to come back (at least any time soon), even if oil prices rise. Companies now recon they need to remain efficient and won’t be wasting any dime to hold the glory of the industry if it doesn’t bring additional return.
Source: macrotrends.net