I wonder why. Better culture at Schlumberger?
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Welcome to Power Line, a weekly energy newsletter brought to you by Business Insider.
Here's what you need to know:
Now we're starting to ask: What will the energy industry look like when the pandemic is in the rearview?
For starters, we asked a bunch of CEOs.
What's Next Energy 4x3
CEOs from across the energy industry told us how the pandemic is transforming their companies
We had the pleasure of interviewing eight top energy execs — from BP's Susan Dio to Duke Energy's Lynn Good — about how the coronavirus will change their companies and the industry at large.
Theme 1: The transition to low-carbon energy remains at center stage even as majors slash their budgets. 2020 forecasts aside, the pandemic won't do much to slow it down.
Theme 2: People are craving energy resilience, especially as wildfire and hurricane seasons draw near. That could give residential solar and infrastructure projects a boost.
Here are a few of the comments that stood out to me. You can read all of them here.
"We are a little bit worried about the electrification of transportation right now because I think the transportation sector is suffering a lot," Energy Impact Partners' CEO Hans Kobler said. "Electric vehicle sales will be down 40%."
What will 2040 look like? Here are 3 scenarios
I don't know what I'm eating for lunch or where I'll be living in two months, let alone what the world will look like in 20 years.
But if anyone is up for the task of predicting the future of energy, it's analysts at the research firm Wood Mackenzie. This week, they sketched out three paths that a recovery could take, and what each means for energy.
"Full recovery": A coronavirus vaccine becomes available next year, and governments around the world pour money into spurring economic growth.
Oil demand returns to pre-pandemic levels of around 100 million barrels per day (bpd) in the 2020s and then reaches a peak of more than 110 million bpd by the mid-2030s.
Natural gas and cheap renewable energy sources would slowly replace coal, causing it to decline slightly by 2040.
"Go it alone": The virus is tough to defeat, trade and travel are restricted, and the world suffers from a long recession.
Global demand for oil increases very little after an initial rebound.
"By 2030 it is barely any higher than was expected for 2020 if the pandemic had not hit," they said.
"Greener growth": A short recession is followed by a strong rebound that includes government support for low-carbon energy.
Oil demand wouldn't move much for the next decade or so and then decline steeply in the 2030s.
Most remarkably, "the combined share of oil, gas, and coal in total primary energy drops to 68% in 2040, down from 84% in 2019," the analysts said.
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The future for America's shale industry (is bleak)
Oil prices have rallied in recent weeks, but the US shale industry — once synonymous with American energy dominance — is not exactly celebrating.
As we reported earlier this week, its problems began well before the coronavirus pandemic took root.
History lesson: In the last five years, US shale companies have failed to deliver investor returns and accrued billions of dollars of debt.
Investors made a lot of money when they invested on "the dip" around 2009, when oil prices were low.
Those investors helped fuel the fracking revolution of the 2010s, which supercharged America's oil output.
An unintended consequence was that fracking brought M&A — the main source of capital gains for investors — to a near standstill over the following years. (I explain why here.)
So when investors once again backed US shale in the last downturn, beginning around 2014, they never saw returns.
Where we are now: Of the 500 or so US oil and gas companies backed by private equity, about 400 of them don't have bids, according to an investor who's been tracking the industry for years.
That means they'll be forced to go into what he called "blowdown" — diverting cash from production to investors, causing oil output to decline over time.
US production could fall by as much as 4 million barrels of oil per day by the end of next year, the investor said.
Where we are headed: "What you're seeing is the rapid shrinkage of the industry," he said. "A lot of companies are going to cease to exist."
Read more: '$500 billion in capital destroyed': How the US shale industry vaporized money even before the pandemic struck — and why the market meltdown is only hastening its decline, according to a top investor
3 big stories we didn't cover
Renewables vs. coal. Renewable energy is on track to outpace coal this year for the first time ever, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
Clean energy jobs. It's bad news. The clean-energy industry has lost almost 600,000 jobs, or 17% of the workforce, since March, according to a new report by BW Research.
Big Oil's support for clean energy. It might be wavering in the near-term. "Oil giants' pace of clean energy deals has slo
Don’t be fooled it’s all about bottom line & shareholders equity, dividends & profitability.
Know many employees at Halliburton that just got axed in Williston. ND, Fort Lupton. CO, Duncan, OK.
Companies like Halliburton & Schlumberger are all about Profits, Dividends & growing Stock Price be smart it’s not about you; unfortunately naivety is a premium at many large Corporate Companies today like Halliburton & Schlumberger with employees thinking big Mama Tit will cuddle you in end. 🙈
I once ate the fuzz out of my belly button.
It’s because right up until the furlough we loved being there, at least my group did. Then they furloughed us. We didn’t like it, but we were grateful to still have jobs. Still had work coming in. Then we got an email that it was over early. Great! This week was like a kick to the gut. We had been told we were safe. We’re family. Nope. I have former coworkers still in a daze. Had been there 10+ years. They don’t know what to do. From what I’ve seen all service companies will be doing the same thing. Hal and SLB were just the first. I loved my time there, but this s—s. I wish you guys luck too.
SLB employees are like robots programmed never to speak out against authority so dont expect emotions like anger because fear over-rides everything.
Only once you leave and work in a normal company will you come to realise this and the de-programming can take place. A Schlumbertron's life is not an easy one
This is cultural, Schlumberger have mostly foreigners where HAL have mostly Americans who believe in freedom of speech.
Guys don’t worry too much about lawyers from slb. Somebody from HR is creating fear to get away with lawsuits. Free speech is your basic amendment and right. Unless you are in a country where free speech muzzled. Slb operates in many of those countries and imports those attitudes to America.
Thelayoff.com will remove it at the request of SLB. Not hard to do with an army of lawyers and if any personal or confidential information is mentioned in the posts.
Wait do you think SLB has the ability to delete posts from thelayoff? You're nuts.
Lol! HR can KISS MY FAT BUTT
Lol! HR can KISS MY FAT BUTT
Probably because companies like Halliburton and Baker Hughes actually treat their employees halfway decent, so getting the axe would be more upsetting because they’d be showing there true colors. Say what you want about SLB but at least they treat you like sh– when you walk in the door on your first day. They make it crystal clear that you are just a number and totally replaceable. The people I know that were laid off from SLB were more relieved than anything because they saw it as more of an end to a toxic relationship and a chance to move on.
@xww+14Q0SZpE is correct.
This discussion board is being censored at the request of SLb
SLB HR will delete your post, you won't see the critical articles.