Soapbox – April
Let’s Talk About the Future of Offshore Energy
By Ben Moore
The offshore energy industry is highly dynamic in nature; technology and knowledge are always progressing, and the need for innovation and change as the industry matures is unavoidable.
Leading offshore marine operator Attollo Offshore has stepped up to the mark when it comes to addressing key issues of innovation and technology within the offshore energy industry by rolling out a conversation series focused on exactly that.
The motivation behind commissioning the series is to help open the discussion on improvements within offshore operations, readying it for a new era through constructive disruption and change.
The growing use of technology within all industries is a key topic throughout the series, which examines how cross-sector advances have the potential to provide smarter offshore operations.
From the future of working patterns to big data, Attollo has brought together some of the brightest minds across a range of industries to give their opinions on a variety of topics. The company hopes that this will ignite further debate and provide food for thought to the offshore energy industry.
The series consists of short videos of discussions from a scope of industry professionals. The first conversation went live in December 2018, and the series is ongoing, with a release once every six weeks. Topics that have been addressed so far include: talent; engineering and risk; digital transformations; purpose, values and culture; and corporate innovation.
Attollo chooses conversation leaders among people who have made an impact in technology and innovation, whether in or out of the offshore and general energy sectors. Risk management directors, human resource officers and engineers are just some of the groups in the target audience.
Issues under discussion include the generational changes occurring with the rise of the digital era and the importance of relationships to help transfer the fundamental ethos of a business to a future generation. The series also brings to light the importance of merging technologies and industries to further innovation. Another key issue that will be raised in the series relates to being strategic about moving toward the future with regard to calibrating old techniques with new ones.
The catalyst behind the series is the current era of the offshore energy industry. This is one of the most exciting times to be in this industry, and the goal of the series is to open people’s eyes to see where new technology and ways of working can take offshore operations into the future.
Opportunities are changing and the challenges are considerable; for example, management of change, including technology adoption and addressing workplace resentment that may arise from the process of change.
The technology to propel the offshore industry forward is probably the simplest piece of the puzzle because it already exists. New technology and mindsets have the power to improve the ways we work offshore more than current thinking allows.
Old ways of working have led to shadows and inefficiencies, and hide opportunities. This new era will allow for extreme transparency and hyperefficiency on a level that has never been achieved before. The hope is that Attollo’s conversation series accelerates the debate and assists with the pace of change.
One of the ways to move the offshore energy industry into the future is to increase collaboration within the industry and with other sectors. This will result in innovative procedures, methods and technological advances.
Among the most powerful messages that have arisen so far during the filming of the series is the need to find ways of transferring the knowledge held by the current generation—the “soul” of the business—to the next generation, while encouraging change and still controlling major accident hazards, promoting safety and protecting the environment—with improved methods.
Offshore businesses that can make this shift in their operations will clearly see the opportunities for growth and can execute on an ever more ambitious vision and scale.
Oil and gas will unlikely be the sole career path of people just entering the workforce. So, in order to attract them as well as retain them, the oil and gas sector needs to use new technologies and teach young people skills that can be used outside the industry.
To be clear, the purpose of the conversation series is not to try and tell people what to do. The goal is to ignite ideas on innovation and transformations, realizing there is not one technology that will change the entire industry. A culture change is required, valuing innovation more than tradition.
The series can be viewed at attollo-offshore.com/insights and on social media at linkedin.com/company/attollo-offshore.
Ben Moore is the managing director of Attollo Offshore, focusing on innovation, pushing boundaries and improving offshore operations. He is dedicated to achieving the sustainability and competitive advantage of the North Sea offshore energy industry and aims to ensure a positive future for the communities in which Attollo operates. Moore seeks to uncover unrealized potential in offshore operations.