Dana Petroleum CEO: Global oil industry faces ‘paradigm shift’

The global oil and gas industry is fundamentally changing shape Dana Petroleum’s Group Chief Executive Marcus Richards told a conference today.

Dr Richards told delegates at The Changing Dynamics of Global Energy Markets conference held at Chatham House, that major structural shifts were now altering the balance of power amongst industry players. One of the key drivers of this shift is the demand for oil in the developing world which is projected to overtake that in industrialised countries for the first time this year. He described the recent news that China has reached the position of the world’s largest importer of crude oil, surpassing the US for the first time, as a ‘paradigm shift’.

In UK terms changes are taking place in the types of companies operating in the North Sea that reflect these global changes. From a landscape dominated by the supermajors just a decade ago, the North Sea now plays host to a truly international line-up of new players – many of them national oil companies.

Dr Richards said: “Dana Petroleum was acquired by KNOC in 2010, as part of an ambitious plan to reach 1.2 million barrels of oil production by 2030. It is an example in microcosm of the changing dynamics of the market. South Korea was at the forefront of a trend that saw successive historical producers in the UK North Sea change hands to serve the growing appetite of emerging economies for resources, technology, skills and expertise. China’s CNOOC and Sinopec are now among the largest oil and gas producers in the UK North Sea, through their acquisitions of whole or part shares in Nexen and Talisman. The Abu Dhabi National Energy Company has also created a significant footprint through TAQA’s acquisition of upstream and midstream assets of Shell and BP, among others.”

[mappress]
Press Release, November 04, 2013