Turning the tide: the transformation of the North Sea
Adrian Del Maestro A C and Craig Stevens BA PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, 7 More London Riverside, London, SE1 2RT, United Kingdom.
B PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, 144 Morrison Street, Edinburgh, EH3 8EB, United Kingdom.
C Corresponding author. Email: adrian.delmaestro@pwc.com
The APPEA Journal 60(2) 427-430 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ19115
Accepted: 15 April 2020 Published: 15 May 2020
Abstract
As part of the Sea Change campaign, we looked at the evolution of the UK North Sea, interviewing over 20 senior stakeholders across the value chain ranging from operators, oil services and regulators, to academia, private equity and banks. We collected their views across three themes: (1) Competitiveness of the basin – Recognition that the supply chain in the basin has been exposed to enough pressure and was not sustainable going forward. New business models were required to incentivise collaboration between operators and oil services. (2) Investment in the basin – Respondents confirmed that private equity and smaller operators would continue to play a major role. However, in a post private equity world, the emergence of private capital from developing countries might proliferate in the North Sea. (3) Energy transition and impact on the basin – For investors it was increasingly challenging to justify investments in oil and gas due to commodity price volatility and growing concerns around environmental, social and governance themes. Nevertheless, the sector had a need to articulate the value it brought and the importance of hydrocarbons in facilitating the energy transition. The basin has the potential to become a ‘test laboratory’ for the energy transition – from low carbon solutions to decommissioning. All these themes are extremely relevant to the Australian upstream sector. We explore the emergence of new partnership models between operators and oil field services and how a mature basin continues to attract investment and adapt to a lower carbon world.
Keywords: energy transition, gas, oil, resources.
Adrian Del Maestro is the global director of research and head of thought leadership in energy for PwC Strategy&Research. Aside from leading the firm’s in-house research capabilities, he has written a number of publications, ranging from the impact of COVID-19 on the global oil and gas sector and the energy transition, to M&A trends in oil and gas and the application of digital technologies in upstream. Adrian has worked with major oil and gas operators, oil service companies, independent oil and gas companies, trade industry associations and international utilities. He has advised clients on a range of topics including market entry strategy, growth strategies, M&A target identification and trends in digital technologies. Prior to PwC he led the research functions at Booz Allen Hamilton and Ernst & Young. Adrian was also the Managing Director of a boutique energy consulting firm where he worked with the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond. Adrian has a degree in French and Spanish from Southampton University and a Masters in International History from the London School of Economics. |
Craig leads the Sales & Marketing function for PwC’s UK Energy, Utilities & Resources team. His responsibilities extend from working with our priority client programme through to writing and leading on the market activation of our thought leadership. Craig worked with Adrian on our Sea Change series which examined North Sea trends following the oil price crash of 2014. Prior to joining PwC, Craig was an upstream banker with Lloyds Bank and prior to that was controller of an international electronics firm. Craig is also a prize winning Chartered Accountant. |
