Is there a future in the oil & gas sector?
In my previous role as a Talent Acquisition professional, one of the most frequent questions I get from students is whether pursuing a career in the oil & gas sector is a sensible choice especially when companies in the sector are shedding employees by the thousands as a reaction to the drop of oil prices.
As a veteran of the oil & gas industry, it was natural for me to answer with a resounding “Yes” . However, I always add that it is much better to pursue a career based on the following considerations:
I usually end my conversation with students who ask about careers in oil & gas industry, with this question “Why limit yourself to this industry?”
True, there are some degrees that are specific to the oil industry and you will be compensated greatly if you decide to pursue them. However before you decide to pursue a degree in petroleum engineering, do your due diligence and understand where the industry is heading (Shell Scenarios is a good read) and resist the urge to react to the cyclical nature of the oil business. It is not the best way to make a long term decision. Keep in mind that there are also other engineering disciplines such as mechanical, chemical or electrical that are in demand by the oil & gas sector but also much sought after by other companies involved in the process or manufacturing industries.
The key to a successful career will be to understand your passion and talent, to work hard in nurturing your talent and honing your skills so that you are the best in whatever you do and to adapt as life presents you with opportunities.
Haria Djuli
Advisor, NrgEdge
Haria brings with him over 11 years of experience in corporate talent acquisition in the energy, oil & gas industry. He had spent over a decade of his career with the Shell group of companies in various locations including the Netherlands, Qatar and Malaysia since 2005. Haria’s direct experience in working across various markets in Europe, Middle East and Southeast Asia gives him a strong understanding and knowledge of the competitive nature of talent acquisition in oil & gas sector globally. His hands-on involvement in recruiting talents ranging from roles in senior management to technicians for both onshore and offshore operations has allowed him to appreciate the various complexities and intricacies involved in meeting organizational goals in talent management. As a firm believer that organisations need to develop their own talents to build a sustainable and successful business, Haria was also actively involved in campus recruitment programs both locally in Malaysia and overseas, where he also provided guidance to young graduates in universities about career advancement in the oil & gas industry.
About NrgEdge - Refueling Employability in the Oil & Gas Industry
NrgEdge is the newest professional networking platform for the Energy, Oil & Gas industry, aimed at creating a holistic environment that will empower members to excel at every point in their career journey and to assist companies in hiring more effectively. Focusing on the Asia-Pacific region, NrgEdge has amassed close to 10,000 registered users from the Energy, Oil & Gas industry in the area since our launch in Oct 2016. Visit www.nrgedge.net for more information
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Market Watch
Headline crude prices for the week beginning 11 February 2019 – Brent: US$61/b; WTI: US$52/b
Headlines of the week
Upstream
Midstream & Downstream
Natural Gas/LNG
Forecast Highlights
Global liquid fuels
Natural gas
Electricity, coal, renewables, and emissions
2018 was a year that started with crude prices at US$62/b and ended at US$46/b. In between those two points, prices had gently risen up to peak of US$80/b as the oil world worried about the impact of new American sanctions on Iran in September before crashing down in the last two months on a rising tide of American production. What did that mean for the financial health of the industry over the last quarter and last year?
Nothing negative, it appears. With the last of the financial results from supermajors released, the world’s largest oil firms reported strong profits for Q418 and blockbuster profits for the full year 2018. Despite the blip in prices, the efforts of the supermajors – along with the rest of the industry – to keep costs in check after being burnt by the 2015 crash has paid off.
ExxonMobil, for example, may have missed analyst expectations for 4Q18 revenue at US$71.9 billion, but reported a better-than-expected net profit of US$6 billion. The latter was down 28% y-o-y, but the Q417 figure included a one-off benefit related to then-implemented US tax reform. Full year net profit was even better – up 5.7% to US$20.8 billion as upstream production rose to 4.01 mmboe/d – allowing ExxonMobil to come close to reclaiming its title of the world’s most profitable oil company.
But for now, that title is still held by Shell, which managed to eclipse ExxonMobil with full year net profits of US$21.4 billion. That’s the best annual results for the Anglo-Dutch firm since 2014; product of the deep and painful cost-cutting measures implemented after. Shell’s gamble in purchasing the BG Group for US$53 billion – which sparked a spat of asset sales to pare down debt – has paid off, with contributions from LNG trading named as a strong contributor to financial performance. Shell’s upstream output for 2018 came in at 3.78 mmb/d and the company is also looking to follow in the footsteps of ExxonMobil, Chevron and BP in the Permian, where it admits its footprint is currently ‘a bit small’.
Shell’s fellow British firm BP also reported its highest profits since 2014, doubling its net profits for the full year 2018 on a 65% jump in 4Q18 profits. It completes a long recovery for the firm, which has struggled since the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, allowing it to focus on the future – specifically US shale through the recent US$10.5 billion purchase of BHP’s Permian assets. Chevron, too, is focusing on onshore shale, as surging Permian output drove full year net profit up by 60.8% and 4Q18 net profit up by 19.9%. Chevron is also increasingly focusing on vertical integration again – to capture the full value of surging Texas crude by expanding its refining facilities in Texas, just as ExxonMobil is doing in Beaumont. French major Total’s figures may have been less impressive in percentage terms – but that it is coming from a higher 2017 base, when it outperformed its bigger supermajor cousins.
So, despite the year ending with crude prices in the doldrums, 2018 seems to be proof of Big Oil’s ability to better weather price downturns after years of discipline. Some of the control is loosening – major upstream investments have either been sanctioned or planned since 2018 – but there is still enough restraint left over to keep the oil industry in the black when trends turn sour.
Supermajor Net Profits for 4Q18 and 2018
1. ExxonMobil:
- 4Q18 – Net profit US$6 billion (-28%);
- 2018 – Net profit US$20.8 (+5.7%)
2. Shell:
- 4Q18 – Net profit US$5.69 billion (+32.3%);
- 2018 – Net profit US$21.4 billion (+36%)
3. Chevron:
- 4Q18 – Net profit US$3.73 billion (+19.9%);
- 2018 – Net profit US$14.8 billion (+60.8%)
4. BP:
- 4Q18 – Net profit US$3.48 billion (+65%);
- 2018 - Net profit US$12.7 billion (+105%)
5. Total:
- 4Q18 – Net profit US$3.88 billion (+16%);
- 2018 - Net profit US$13.6 billion (+28%)