For companies in the oil and gas sector, Murti says, this may mean building a fortress balance sheet that can weather disruptions. The crisis also provides a business logic for continued consolidation in the industry. Bigger players with diversified operations can simply navigate challenges better.Â
In the midst of that, oil prices are likely to continue to fluctuate. After months of warning of supply shortages, the International Energy Agency said this week that 2027 may bring a supply glut as the sector fires back into action. This may sound like an argument that things are easing, but really it suggests that volatility is part of the new normal.Â
“Everyone wants to know where prices settle out,” Murti says. “I continue to think that is just not the right perspective.”
The oil and gas sector isn’t the only industry thinking carefully about volatility. As I’ve written about previously, industrial firms will look at electrification with newfound interest, sometimes because it’s cheaper and sometimes because it provides resilience against fuel price fluctuations.Â
