Globally, some 150,000 jobs have been let go in the oil and gas industry, some 20,000 of those in Norway, a conference in Bergen heard this morning.
Statoil executive and Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) 2015 President Helge Hove Haldorsen quoted the figures this morning while praising Norway for its past successes in offshore exploration and subsea technology. But now, the industry was facing a Rhapsody in C, with pressures around costs, competitiveness, complexity, communities expecting more, climate change and cash flow.
Haldorsen, who is also director general Statoil Mexico, was speaking at the Underwater Technology Conference in Bergen. He said the industry needed to imagine E&P 2.0 and move to 4E, not 4D, with goals including efficiency and E&P measures to boost production. He said collaboration would be key, with Darwin's survival of the fittest being replaced by the best collaborators being the fittest.
Big data and the industrial internet, new business models, and rebalancing government and investor take were some measures which could improve the situation, said Haldorsen.
His comments were echoed by others in this morning's UTC plenary. Margaret's Øvrum, EVP Technology, Projects and Drilling, said subsea project costs had tripled since 2005 and that this was not sustainable. "We need a competitive subsea industry," she said.
She suggested four "building blocks" for future competitiveness - further standardization, targeted technology development, capitalizing on market opportunities and operational excellence. Common operator standards would also be a great boon to the industry, she said, "If we could agree on requirements, we could meet conventional production needs with 45 configurable systems."
Despite the current climate, new technologies are still being launched, she highlighted, noting the Åsgard and Gullfaks subsea compression projects, both of which are being installed this summer, with one of OneSubsea's wet gas compressors being loaded out for installation not far from Bergen today. Some nine of 11 modules on Åsgard have been loaded to date, Øvrum said.
OneSubsea's CEO Mike Garding was also speaking and echoed some of the comments. He said average costs per subsea well had increased by 250% between 2003 and 2013. Most of the cost increases were areas where the industry had control, he said, citing "increased engineering costs and specifications."
Further, he said the current climate was one we'd have to get used to. "I like to describe the environment we are in as the new normal as I don't think any of us can count on a US$100 bbl oil price any time soon," he said.
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