Saudi Aramco: The Future of Oil and Gas - GineersNow Petroleum Saudi Aramco, The Future of Oil & Gas Industry | Page 22

A Perspective on the Future of the Oil &
Gas Industry: Towards a New Reality
With the green shoots emerging, the oil & gas industry may have reasons to hope for, and
perhaps foresee, better times ahead.
Optimism is gradually creeping in the oil & gas
industry.
Towards the end of 2016, the industry witnessed
developments that herald a promising future for
oil & gas. For instance, OPEC members and a
number of non-OPEC producers have agreed to
cut production, rig counts were steadily rising and
the US natural gas sector continued to claw as it
spurs the US’ rise as a global LNG exporter. M&A
and divestiture activities have also started picking
up.
With the green shoots finally emerging, the
industry may have reasons to hope for, and to
some extent foresee, better times ahead.
The general confidence, however, does come
with caution. The industry and allied stakeholders
admit that the recent downturn will leave long-
term effects in a number of aspects within the oil
and gas sector. Therefore, the collective opinion is
that moving forward, the industry will be defined
by the way it adopts to the changes and responds
to the salient issues confronting the sector.
Below, we take a look at a few talking points
(on partnerships, shortening project cycles and
manpower) and shed light on certain business and
operational strategies that oil & gas companies
may espouse.
Strategic partnerships with
specialists
The industry is increasingly seeing new forms of
business alliances. The industry once dominated
by generalist companies (or those that discover,
develop and operate an oil or gas field and
provide all other