Oil and gas industry rhetoric about the need to prepare for the energy transition is evolving into action at a remarkable pace. Major international oil companies such as Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Eni have laid out bold plans to revamp their corporate and executive structures to better prepare for a world moving away from a heavy reliance on oil and toward cleaner energy solutions such as natural gas and renewables (EIF Jun.10'20). But in the oil-field services sector, where so much of the business is centered around the actual finding and extraction of hydrocarbons, even the largest and most diversified players have few obvious answers to questions about how to position their businesses for the energy transition. Service companies will be crucial in developing technologies that can help customers reach their own transition targets, notes Leslie Beyer, president of the Petroleum Equipment and Services Association. And while managing the supply chain will surely be part of exploration and production companies' effort to clean up operations and increase efficiency, it is still not clear how the "Big 3" oilfield service companies - Schlumberger, Halliburton and Baker Hughes - will stay relevant in a world where demand for their fundamental product offerings is in steady decline.
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