KUALA LUMPUR – Oil and gas will continue to make up a significant portion of the energy mix, although at a declining trend of 47% by 2040 from about 54% in 2018 due to the growth of renewable energy.
Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) executive vice-president and chief executive officer (upstream) Adif Zulkifli said as an industry tasked with catering to growing energy demand, it is critical for the national oil company to continue to deliver energy that is affordable, secure and sustainable.
“This is where the challenge lies. We need to do it safely, at the lowest cost possible to ensure we are resilient and additionally, at low carbon, which means that we need to ensure that we need to drive carbon emissions levels down from current levels,” he said in his keynote address at the inaugural Re-Imagining Malaysia Assets (Reset) 2021.
To do so, Adif said a shift in mindset, as well as how things are done, is paramount, and embracing new technology and digitalisation will drive the oil and gas industry to survive, remain relevant and competitive in the future.
“What we have done before will not work in the future. Technology and digitalisation, which for so long has been advocated as an agent of change for the future, must be embraced and implemented now,” he said.
Adif said Petronas has started to reimagine a future where operations can be done remotely.
“In fact in 2020, our first remote operations platform was piloted at the Resak field, offshore Terengganu. We anticipate it to reduce up to 30% of operation expenditure,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kenanga Research said Brent crude prices enjoyed a rebound this year, underpinned by weather-led supply disruptions and Opec+’s decision to maintain output cuts.
That said, the brokerage still sees possible downside risks to oil prices, possibly even dipping below the US$60 (RM248) per barrel mark, given still fragile demand-supply dynamics with full recovery to pre-pandemic levels expected only in 2023.
The inevitability of Opec increasing production during the year, given its record low production capacity utilisation, will also be another downside risk for the industry.
“Nonetheless, despite downside risks to oil prices, we believe that Brent crude prices hovering within the range of between US$55 and US$65 per barrel are healthy enough to sustain a rebound in activity levels,” said Kenanga Research.
The four-day Reset 2021 is hosted by Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd and organised by the Society of Petroleum Engineers Kuala Lumpur Section in collaboration with the Malaysian Oil and Gas Services Council and Informa Markets.
The virtual conference aims to enrich the innovation technology gathering efforts and knowledge transfer between industries where implementations and best practices are showcased in order to stay ahead of the curve in facing the volatility of energy price. – Bernama, April 5, 2021
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