Ernst & Young LLP has officially published the results from its EY Future of Energy Survey of oil and gas, chemicals, power, and utilities companies.
Going by the available, the stated survey, which took into account the opinion of executives and employees at global energy organizations, went on to assess perceptions surrounding current and emerging technologies, skills, and challenges.
More on that would reveal how the results were reached upon after hearing from more than 1,020 respondents across the energy industry.
In essence, EY’s survey emerged with top three trends that are set to have the largest positive impact on global energy industry in the next five years. These trends are adoption of new technology, advances in renewable energy sources, and changes in energy consumption.
To understand the basis of the published projections, we must acknowledge that, investment in technologies by oil and gas and chemicals companies is now significantly higher than where it was during 2020. The players who are making substantial planned investment in digital technologies have also gone up by 20 points since 2020, breaching the mark of 49%.
Complimenting that would be a contingent of 42% which revealed an intention to invest moderate amount of funds within the current context.
Having said so, executives across the board continue to feel the probability of significant challenges over the next five years. In case that wasn’t enough, no more than a few respondents felt that technologies like artificial intelligence, chatbots and cloud computing have realized a return on their investment expectations thus far.
“The EY Future of Energy Survey captures industry sentiment at a very unique moment in time — around the US presidential election and looking toward 2025,” said Timothy Haskell, EY Americas People Consulting Leader for Power & Utilities and Oil & Gas and Chemicals. “Energy executives and employees expressed a refreshed focus on the strong operational performance of the industry. They also realized the challenges to stay competitive as new policies take shape in a rapidly changing technology and workforce environment.”
Taking an even deeper view of EY’s report, it discovered that, while reskilling is definitely valued amongst the top brass, it remains far from being a priority.
You see, an estimated 91% of power and utilities executives, and 85% of oil and gas and chemicals executives, admitted that their ability to reskill employees will determine their success over the next five years. However, at the same time, only a meager 26% of power and utilities, and 29% of oil and gas and chemicals executives, said their companies are currently retraining existing employees.
Another major detailed uncovered by the given survey is rooted in growing reliance on external resources to fill gaps. This is reflected well by the plans of 88% of power and utilities executives, and 81% of oil and gas and chemicals executives, to rely more on vendors and contractors than they have in the past.
Moving on, 86% of power and utilities executives, and 81% of oil and gas and chemicals executives, also agreed that their workforce is agile enough to respond to changing business needs, a percentage which is up nearly 30 points since previous surveys (57% in 2021 and 53% in 2020).
Despite that being the case, though well over 73% of power and utilities, and 58% of oil and gas and chemicals companies, currently believe their culture hampers the adoption of digital technologies.
“Energy executives believe their organizations are good at teaching in-demand skills,” said Haskell. “The challenge is to shorten the skills gap, incorporate continuous learning into the regular operating rhythm of companies and underscore its importance when setting strategic priorities. Whether it be through outsourcing, reskilling, identifying new talent or a combination, the energy industry must find ways to source or supply the talent to advance technology applications to meet market demands and lead them through change.”
