Feature COVID-19
A catalyst for
change
The coronavirus pandemic has hit every sector, but the energy industry has seen resilience and innovation come to the fore as businesses remain agile and evolve to the changing environment. Jonathan Dyble asks, so, is it possible that while challenging, COVID-19 has been a catalyst for change for many companies?
I
t is safe to say that the energy industry has experienced a turbulent time since the middle of the last decade. Owing to a supply glut back in 2016, the price of crude oil plummeted as low as US$26 per barrel – less than 25% of the US$106 that would have been taken back in mid-2014. In the same year, the Brexit referendum saw the UK commit to leaving the European Union, adding further uncertainty to an already highly volatile cocktail within the energy sector. And that is before we even mention the growing
advocacy of environmentally friendly and sustainable practices that had begun to place pressure on the operating models of many industry stalwarts. Amid such chaos, however, arguably no single incident has had a greater impact on the energy sector during this period than the COVID-19 pandemic. The past 18 months may prove pivotal in the sector’s history. Not only did 2020 see oil slip into negative pricing for the first time in its history, but businesses of all shapes and sizes had to rethink, transform, and adapt almost overnight, simply to survive.
Dealing with the difficulties and disruption Indeed, many sector players can reminisce about the challenges they have faced, the EIC’s latest Survive & Thrive report presenting a raft of stories faced by individual enterprises. Take the experience of AAL Shipping (AAL). As a marine transportation services provider, the company’s operations became brutally restricted back in March 2020. “We witnessed extreme disruption of crew change plans for our seafarers; severe delays in ports worldwide due to elevated safety restrictions and cargo readiness;
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