Featured Content

  • A Bad Time to Be Average

    Strategy has never been about aiming for average. And it certainly isn’t now, in an age of declining growth and increasing volatility. Here’s how to defy the mean and pursue the exceptional.

  • What’s Trending in Jobs and Skills

    What we learned from analyzing 95 million online job postings over the past three years.

  • Winning the ’20s

    The winners in business have shifted markedly in the past decade—and the keys to success are likely to be very different again in ten years’ time. How should leaders prepare their companies to thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape? What will it take to win the '20s?

Choose your location to get a site experience tailored for you.

Remember my region and language settings

How to Thrive in an Era of Volatile Oil Prices

Volatile oil prices present both challenges and opportunities for producers, energy service companies, and consuming and processing industries. Capturing the opportunity demands a structured approach, the attention of senior management, and rapid action. This is a tall order, but a critical one, as the steps that companies take in today’s exceptional market will dictate their competitive position in the next phase of the cycle. 

In crafting responses to this environment, companies should keep in mind three lessons from past oil cycles:

  1. Sharp and protracted swings in oil prices, such as the one being experienced now, do not last forever. Indeed, the current down cycle is already the longest peak-to-trough progression of any of the sustained oil-price declines since the 1980s.
  2. The opportunities and threats typically emerge early. Markets are quick to price in weakness, and valuations can be hit hard. This is evident today in the offshore seismic sector, for example, in which some valuations have fallen by more than 50%.
  3. A fast response is critical, whether it be positioning the company for survival, communicating to investors, or capturing emerging opportunities.
A BCG analysis shows that oil price declines since 1986 (peak to trough) reveals that the current price decline is unusually long-lasting.
An analysis of oil price declines since 1986 (peak to trough) reveals that the current price decline is unusually long-lasting.
Energy & Environment
Previous Page

BCG uses cookies to improve the functionality, performance, and effectiveness of our communications. Detailed information on the use of cookies is provided in our Privacy Policy. By continuing to use this site, or by clicking "I agree," you consent to the use of cookies.