Developing our energy business to include low-carbon energy requires, at least today, maximizing returns on our traditional oil and gas business, and then using digital technology to maximize capital planning, asset management, and operations as we reinvest those returns into low-carbon businesses. The internet of things (IoT), cloud based computing, and the blockchain are all playing key roles in the digital transformation of the energy industry -- and in figuring out how to make those low-carbon businesses profitable.
For the foreseeable future, going “beyond the barrel” will really mean maximizing returns from the barrel and applying some appreciable portion of those gains to developing low-carbon and negative-carbon energy and energy-related opportunities.
Energy companies such as Exxon, Shell, BP, Oxy, Suncor, TotalEnergies, Saudi Aramco and many others have rolled out low-carbon or net-zero initiatives, and the availability of capital, massive scale, and vast wealth of expertise they and others can harness bodes well for their success.
Renewable energy generation (wind, solar), alternative fuels (biofuels, hydrogen), and carbon-reduction approaches such as direct air capture and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) garner much of the attention. What tends to slip below the fold is the degree to which success with the energy transition will depend on digital transformation.
After all, the term “energy transition” is really just shorthand for diversif...
