Industry in crisis faces tough calls on R&D

摘要

THIS week tens of thousands of oil company executives and engineers, service providers, delegates and technical paper presenters would, under ordinary circumstances, be pouring into the US oil capital, Houston, for the annual Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) and its accompanying exhibition, long billed as the largest industry event in a calendar packed with such gatherings. However, 2020 has been anything but ordinary. OTC was forced first to postpone, then cancel the event last month, as the full dangers of the coronavirus pandemic became apparent. Oil prices continued to slide as demand plunged and crude stocks accumulated, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) per-barrel values shockingly dipping into negative territory in mid-April for the first time in history.