Dr Adham Sleiman, Vice-President. at Booz Allen Hamilton Mena;
Change continues to be the defining feature of the global energy sector in 2017. In the oil and gas industry, as well as in electric power, major internal and external forces are driving change, requiring industry leaders to revisit strategies.
In oil and gas, 2016 was a year of continued overproduction. The resulting oil inventory overhang finally had an effect in reducing US shale production, but did little to spur demand that’s needed to bring the global market into balance.
In the Middle East, a prolonged period of low oil price has impacted government spending but the move toward economic diversification and reduced reliance on oil is prompting greater investment in high-potential sectors including real estate, construction, hospitality, tourism and education. There is also a greater national focus on achieving operational efficiency across sectors – and one notable area that stands to benefit immensely from embracing digitally-enabled solutions is utilities.
The utilities sector has historically under-invested in information technology (IT), but an increasing number of utilities in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region are waking up to the benefits of smart technology. In utilities and electric power, the traditional supply chain is undergoing change driven primarily by regulation, public policy, plentiful inexpensive natural gas, and dramatic cost declines in renewable energy and storage.
Dr Walid Fayad, Executive Vice- President at Booz Allen Hamilton Mena, said: “Energy and technology form the backbone of global economies and play a crucial role in driving the operational success of all other sectors. As innovation and technological disruption become the norm across the Mena region, we are increasingly seeing regulators and policy makers embracing game-changing trends in the energy sector – from support of renewable energy, advanced metering, and grid modernization to big data and cloud. We expect that wider adoption of these technologies will increase overall operational efficiencies, especially in the wake of a period of prolonged low oil prices.”
Dr Adham Sleiman, Vice-President, Booz Allen Hamilton Mena, adds: “Data analytics has emerged as one of the key trends that will shape the future of the energy sector in 2017. Big data is rapidly changing the way the energy sector operates globally – by reducing costs, optimising investments and reducing overall risk. In order to achieve these objectives." Booz Allen Hamilton identified five major trends that will impact the energy industry in 2017, which include focusing on capital expenditure productivity; creating enterprise value from data; using markets to shape the future grid; following security to the operational edge; and innovation as the tipping point for cloud.
