Energy Outlook Q1 2013

Global Energy Industry Faces Transformational Game Changers in 2013 in the Wake of $100 Oil

BY SEAN EVERS, MANAGING PARTNER, GULF INTELLIGENCE

  • January-01-2013
Global Energy Industry Faces Transformational Game Changers in 2013 in the Wake of $100 Oil

The global energy industry is witnessing the most transformational shake-up since a wave of takeovers in the late 1990s created the super-majors as a series of Game Changers look set to alter the landscape in 2013. In the wake of $10 oil in the late 1990s we witnessed significant consolidation in the energy industry with a wave of M&A activity redefining the sector. In the wake of $100 oil we are witnessing a new transformation, less defined perhaps but equally as dramatic – NOCs are becoming IOCs; Supermajors are slimming down; Independents are now the primary risk pioneers; Service companies are taking on IOC activities and Trading firms are building asset bases. The quadrupling of crude prices over the last decade has also triggered a black-gold rush in East Africa and unleashed the Shale Revolution that has set the U.S. on course towards the holy grail of energy independence.