Coping with long periods of cheap oil

Peter Davis

While the average consumer may be happy paying less for fuel, what does the falling price of oil mean for Oil Exploration and Production companies?

Since the drop in oil price, there has been a corresponding decrease in capital spending by oil companies, although they continue to stress that they are flexible and can revise plans when necessary.

Today’s oil price downturn could last for two or more years, and those organisations’ developing planning assumptions should be reflecting today’s market realities.

Companies need to be resilient in today’s oil price environment, even though predictions are that the price of oil is expected to return to around $70-$90 pb in the medium term.

So how do upstream Oil Exploration and Production companies become resilient, as this is not something that happens overnight?

The drop in oil prices can be seen as a prime opportunity to explore new efficiencies in business processes and spend management.

Most organisations have put the brakes on high value investment, however they still need to manage ongoing exploration and production activities. We are now seeing more companies seek new methods of controlling spend through better automated SCM systems e.g. better controlling procurement and contract spend.

By taking time to evaluate and automate business processes on Spend Management & Supplier Contracts organisations can quickly realise the benefits.

Automating these once manual processes result in new methods of cost reduction and improved transparency across the business which leads to faster, more effective decision-making.

It is much harder to cut corners with an automated spend management system, and that improves quality, productivity and efficiency. By increasing control and minimising expenditure, organisations can maximise their ROI on internal systems. The ongoing cost and time savings are enormous.

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Peter Davis

Written by:

Peter Davis

Business Unit Head

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