Time for financial discipline
The pattern of consolidation and restructuring among oil companies during the past year looks set to continue
As 2017 ends, it is on track to go into the history books as a year of moderate recovery for the world oil industry: Opec output is broadly stable; the global inventory overhang is broadly shrinking; and oil prices are up nearly 13% from their January level. The combination triggered a broad recovery in oil investment activity across all sectors as companies consolidated both their upstream and downstream positions, many repeating a popular mantra: value over volume. According to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu's Oil and Gas Mergers and Acquisitions Report-Mid-Year, 2017, global energy M&A activity was up 57% in the first half of this year, to $137bn. The US Energy Information Administration re
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17 February 2026
The 25th WPC Energy Congress, taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 26–30 April 2026, will bring together leaders from the political, industrial, financial and technology sectors under the unifying theme “Pathways to an Energy Future for All”
17 February 2026
Siemens Energy has been active in the Kingdom for nearly a century, evolving over that time from a project-based foreign supplier to a locally operating multi-national company with its own domestic supply chain and workforce
17 February 2026
Eni’s chief operating officer for global natural resources, Guido Brusco, takes stock of the company’s key achievements over the past year, and what differentiates its strategy from those of its peers in the LNG sector and beyond
16 February 2026
As the third wave of global LNG arrives, Wood Mackenzie’s director for Europe gas and LNG, Tom Marzec-Manser, discusses with Petroleum Economist the outlook for Europe’s gas market in 2026
