“The current drop in oil prices is going to have a profound effect on the energy sector. We have all been left reeling from the sudden and dramatic price crash. None of us knows how long this crash will last or the long term impact – even after COVID-19 is under control, we are still exposed to the fall-out from the Russian-Saudi oil price war.”
“Companies are acting fast to minimise the impact. Operational costs are already being put under tight control like never before. Companies need to take a hard look at their inventory across all their sites, making sure they avoid any unnecessary material purchases. Another area which will need careful management is in the maintenance of key operating assets – this is a fine balance between minimising unnecessary maintenance and inspection costs, whilst avoiding reduced performance and ultimately costly equipment failure. We are thankful that many of Progressive TSL’s clients across the globe have the systems in place to manage these key operational and financial decisions.”
“Since COVID-19 started to take hold we are seeing many head office staff moving to home working arrangements. Technology has a strong part to play in supporting business continuity through this phase. We are recommending that companies use secure cloud computing so they can access the critical financial and operational data needed to run the business as normal from home. Outsourced IT services can further assist during this period removing the reliance on internal teams. There may be an increased risk of power outages and lapses in internet connectivity, a challenge already familiar to many of our African based clients.”
“Other technologies that we can see really earning their stripes during this difficult time are video conferencing, IoT and AI technologies. These will enable companies to communicate at a distance and monitor the health of remote assets without the need to send teams of operators out for inspections. This should hopefully reduce both unnecessary travel costs and the risk of infection transmission amongst the team.”
“We at Progressive TSL are obviously very concerned for the future of our energy clients but are available to provide guidance and support wherever we can as we embark on this challenging journey together.”
Chris Walcot CEO, Progressive TSL
