Focus on balancing competing demands for a successful energy transition

• We asked the 13 service providers profiled in our recently published Energy Services Top 10 to assess the change in demand for their services across the energy value chain over the past 12 months from +5 (a significant increase) to -5 (a significant decline).
• Demand is increasing across the whole value chain—matching the multiple competing demands facing the energy industry.
• There is standout growth for services related to upstream asset and data management, refining emissions management, refining process control tech, and market repositioning strategy from oil and gas to energy.
• These fastest-growing areas illustrate the dominance of the energy transition throughout our Top 10 study; however, the competing industry demands are born out in an increase in demand across the value chain for technology and business process services.
• For both enterprises and their service and technology partners, the energy transition must integrate with sustainability across environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors, digital and more intelligent technology adoption, COVID-19 and the shifts to remote working, the pandemic-oil price crash double-shock, cybersecurity threats to business and nationally-critical infrastructure, the question of what to do with existing assets, ongoing efficiency pressures, customer experience reinvention, and the ongoing talent crunch as many look increasingly negatively on the oil and gas industry, no matter its change of branding.

The Bottom Line: The energy transition dominates the narrative of the oil and gas industry as it pivots (more slowly than is necessary) away from fossil fuels; however, the transition must be balanced against multiple fundamental, competing, and interlinked transitions. These demands must align in enterprise and service provider roadmaps.

For more detail on the full range of energy services across our value chain, you can view the full report here.