Riyadh: A new report produced by Oxford Business Group (OBG) in partnership with Alkhorayef Petroleum explores the key role that digitalisation and innovation are poised to play in the global oil industry’s recovery.
The “Oil & Gas Services: Post-Pandemic Prospects” report, part of OBG’s Covid-19 Response Report (CRR) series, provides data-driven analysis of the industry’s pandemic performance and prospects for growth, with a focus on three markets – Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Colombia – in an easy-to-navigate and accessible format.
Saudi Arabia’s plans to increase its market share by boosting production capacity over the medium- to long term, as production in the US and Russia gradually slows, are a key focus. Here, the CRR examines the Kingdom’s competitive advantages, which include low extraction costs and well-established energy infrastructure.
In its coverage of Egypt, the report highlights the country’s strategic efforts to increase production from existing sites, while also accelerating new exploration, most notably in the promising Western Desert region, where new technology is expected to reduce previously prohibitive costs.
The analysis of Colombia’s oil industry, meanwhile, looks at moves underway to step up exploration and production, including the exploitation of new gas reserves, to help improve the sector’s competitiveness and counter the challenge of high production breakeven prices.
In addition, the report explores Alkhorayef Petroleum’s strategy for navigating the pandemic and plans for expansion, which includes maintaining a sharp focus on R&D, fostering regional partnerships and developing human capital.
Jana Treeck, OBG’s Managing Director for the Gulf, said that innovative solutions were expected to be key in helping industry players to enhance operational efficiencies at a time when maximising cost-effectiveness and minimising environmental impact are both high on the agenda.
“The oil price crash of 2014-15 was still weighing on the global oil industry’s performance when the pandemic hit, leaving upstream operators and service providers facing cost-related challenges and lower profit margins,” she said. “While ongoing uncertainty relating to Covid-19 variants could mean an uneven global recovery, successful vaccine rollouts should contribute to a sustained rebound in global oil demand and prices in the near term.”
The analysis of the impact of Covid-19 on the global oil industry and the prospects for sustainable growth in oil and gas services forms part of a series of tailored reports which OBG is currently producing with its partners, alongside other highly relevant, go-to research tools, including a range of country-specific Growth and Recovery Outlook articles and interviews.
