7 in 10 O&G professionals to embrace digitalisation for higher profits

But an old-fashioned culture remains the biggest barrier.

Quality assurance and risk management company DNV GL reported that in their study on oil and gas (O&G) industry, 68% of Singaporean senior oil and gas professionals agreed that their organisations need to embrace digitalisation to increase profits, up from 36% in 2017.

Digitalisation is attracting the most immediate investments, with 22% of the respondents expecting their organisations to make the first or further investments this year, whilst 49% expect digitalisation investments within five years.

Further, 41% of the respondents said that they expect an increase in digitalisation investments, compared to 27% last year. Renewable energy investment comes next, with 35% of the respondents expecting an increase.

Cyber security investments are also expected to increase by 41%, which mirrors the expectations for digitalisation, DNV GL said.

However, 41% of the respondents said that an old-fashioned organisation or culture may be the primary barrier to digitalisation, whilst 30% said that the barrier could be the lack of required skills, and lack of funding.

Meanwhile, Singapore Business Review previously reported that 68% of O&G professionals expect an increase in cost control.