The energy transition has expanded the opportunity pipeline for ambitious independents
Outlook 2022: Independents tap into the transition
Large-cap companies may be keen to decarbonise their portfolios, but shedding non-core assets presents a golden opportunity for smaller upstream E&Ps
Societal pressure is leading oil majors to pivot their strategies towards renewables and net-zero targets, creating a brief window of opportunity for independents to snap up non-core assets, build scale and deliver value to shareholders. Assets changing hands between majors and smaller independents is certainly not new. A similar transition took place in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea in recent memory. A review of the operating landscape of the North Sea today would show a very different list of operators from the 1990s and 2000s. The drivers of that particular transition were different in terms of majors high-grading and rationalising their portfolios, but the principles were largely
Also in this section
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
