Introduction: In the first of a series, we explore the key characteristics of Oil and Gas Supply Chains and introduce Streamba’s industry-specific technical, functional and commercial solutions, which we will further explore over the coming weeks.
The Case for Specialised Supply Chains
Global supply chains have evolved at an unprecedented rate since the pandemic, attacks on critical shipping routes and rising conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean. These external influences have forced a rethink to the philosophy of “just-in-time” supply – increasing focus on production resilience. A plethora of digital solutions have sprung up to solve these challenges, some designed to address general supply chain issues common to all industries, others built to service a specific vertical.
Industry Challenges: The energy sector has unique supply chain challenges with respect to complexity and demand – sourcing expensive items, often bespoke to projects, and transporting these en masse to some of the most remote locations on the planet, and it isn’t forecast to get any easier: capital expenditures are expected forecast to rise from £4 trillion in 2012 to over £9 trillion by 2025. In some cases, entire supply chains are being established to service new markets, like Guyana.
The energy sector is distinct from other industries, and generalised solutions rarely prove sufficient in the long term. The specialised equipment, often hazardous to handle, requires a specialised vocabulary that underscores the intricacies and technicalities of the industry.
The Urgency of the Current Moment: In recent years, shareholder pressures have intensified, largely due to stagnant share prices over the last two decades. This financial scrutiny has propelled a shift in focus towards non-primary areas such as supply chains, pushing companies to transform these from static, high-inertia systems to dynamic models that can adapt to rapidly changing, industry-specific business imperatives.
Generic supply chain models simply fall short in addressing these complex needs effectively. As the pressures increase, so too does the need for specialised, industry-focused supply chain solutions, particularly in the Oil and Gas industry.
Embracing the Deep – Streamba’s Specialised Approach to Oil and Gas Supply Chains
Streamba’s Deep and Narrow Strategy: At Streamba, we have deliberately chosen a “deep and narrow” vertical SaaS approach over a “shallow and wide” horizontal one. By focusing our efforts on the Oil and Gas sector, we tailor our supply chain strategies to meet the nuanced requirements of this industry, thereby enhancing responsiveness, efficiency, and ultimately, value delivery in a constantly transforming landscape.
Getting Technology Out of the Way – Consolidation: Simplification through consolidation is increasingly crucial as companies narrow their focus to deploy technologies aligned with industry needs that can flex to adapt to changing conditions. This requires a strategic approach to data management, where the separation of data and applications ensures that an ecosystem of competing technologies can interoperate and share information seamlessly. This approach ensures that data is stored in secure, context-aware data lakes.
Value now and in the Future: Streamba’s Solutions are proven with the world’s biggest Oil and Gas companies to deliver value to control your Supply Chain and Logistics operations, reducing cost, protecting asset performance and maintaining HSE standards. This has been delivered through a technology stack that has proven its performance, reliability and security in a challenging environment. From this strong backbone, we are building out commercial, product and technical capabilities, to deliver the change that the industry is demanding. This includes the following topics, which we will cover in subsequent articles:
– Adaptive Supply Chain, creating improved production performance (revenue) through dynamic suppliers.
– A Fourth Party Technology commercial model, facilitating contract rationalisation, with reduced administrative cost, and a more dynamic supplier base.
– Our deep Contextual Data Models, are designed to integrate seamlessly with the unique terminology and standards of each energy major’s internal lexicon and processes, enhancing the rapid deployment of AI models.
Conclusion: The need for industry-specific solutions in supply chain management has never been more critical, especially in sectors as complex and demanding as Oil and Gas. At Streamba, we are committed to delivering targeted technical, functional and commercial solutions that meet these challenges head-on.
Stay tuned for our future blogs, where we will explore some of the solutions currently benefiting our clients and share insights into future developments in these areas.