The energy transition is well underway, as evidenced by increased demand from stakeholders and increased capital in the game. There are no silver bullets, no single solution that will allow us to achieve our goals. There’s not going to be a single winner of the energy transition either. That’s why partnerships are going to be more important than ever as the future of energy is formed.

My name is Zach Robbins, a member of the Energy and Natural Resources team in the Americas. Prior to joining Oliver Wyman, I worked at a start-up oilfield services environmental technology company, where we provided on-site remediation solutions to clean up oil and produced water spills — It was a replacement to the industry standard of hauling contaminated soil to landfills, helping large oil companies reduce their environmental footprint.

It was my time at this startup, with plenty of boots-on-the-ground experience in the Permian Basin, that shaped my perspectives on the importance of partnership in the energy industry. There are countless companies making moves to reduce the footprint of the industry that is providing affordable and reliable energy to the world — methane monitoring, carbon capture, wind, solar — but it’s the access to capital and expertise in complex infrastructure that’s offered by oil companies that will allow this transition to be done at the scale needed to shape the future.

Oil companies still need to be able to deliver affordable and reliable energy to the end users and to the people and businesses they support. They can reduce emissions within their operations by eliminating wasteful flaring, and they can push for a lower-emitting product mix, but they need to find a way to be successful throughout this period of transition.

The renewables space is already highly saturated, so waiting until you’re forced to transition means you’re late to the party. So, how do we approach this? It’s not just problem-solving in a vacuum, it’s problem-solving with external factors — like now — I can look at the problem of, “How can this major oil company prepare for the future of energy against their competition?” or I can look at, “How can this major oil company partner with competition, or companies they would not otherwise consider to have overlap in their sector?”

It’s now a lot more complex than how to deliver energy from A to B more efficiently because today’s competition can be tomorrow’s partner. And this is something we’re hearing from clients — There is significant appetite for acquisitions, joint ventures, partnerships. How can we use the technology and assets that are already out there to get ahead and stay ahead throughout the transition?

We’re seeing examples across industry where players are coming together to address this challenge and unlock this opportunity. One example making headlines is two major oil companies working together on solar projects to generate electricity in South America. This consortium brings the capital and regional knowledge of the oil companies with the technical expertise of their solar partner — It’s a win-win, where they create a new diversified future-proof stream of revenue while leading the way for a country to make a massive step towards a lower-carbon future.

And it’s not just oil and gas players working within their own sector. In fact, we’re seeing cross-sector collaboration too — oil companies are partnering with electric vehicle charging networks, something that goes hand-in-hand with their retail fuel stations and can be a form of future-proofing for electrification. As passenger vehicles move away from internal combustion engines, oil companies can make smart business moves while addressing their ambitions to decrease their Scope 3 emissions.

Countless opportunities like these are out there and can better position companies for the transition and for sustained profitability via competitive advantage, all while minimizing the footprint of meeting growing energy demands. And, when added together, these partnerships can significantly reduce emissions needed to meet industry and company targets.

I'm Zach Robbins, and this is my take on partnerships in the energy transition.