In 2023, energy companies will need to maintain a continued focus on building resiliency in unstable conditions. The key to resilience will lie in gathering data and insights accessible by all departments in real-time for an agile and quick response to change, and for unified decision-making.

Energy companies will be looking to create unified data ecosystems to unearth real insights that lead to smarter decisions, predictive capabilities and improved operations. The visibility gained by unifying data will have a direct impact on all areas in the supply chain and can save OPEX costs; it can even improve margins on CAPEX costs. Given the volume of products energy companies work with, gaining even small efficiencies can yield savings in the multi-millions.

Moving from in-house compute and data storage to the cloud will bring efficiency and performance gains, as well as cost savings. This is a critical first step in refocusing an organization. Cloud is the foundation on which an entire transformation strategy is built. It is also a key ingredient in allowing IT organizations to be agile in support of new value.

The volatility of the market and the entrance of new resources will affect the entire supply chain, but it will also have a notable impact on trading capabilities. Those markets have become more interconnected based on price arbitrage and carbon objectives. Aiming to maximize P&L while minimizing carbon footprints creates a situation where we have multi-objective optimizations.

Data is the new differentiator, especially in highly volatile trading. Real-time and reliable data is essential for real-time and better decision-making. Modernizing your CTRM ecosystem can help with better data integration, speed and agility. Taking it a step further, AI-driven models will be key for multi-objective optimizations, as well as complex structured deal management and valuations.  

Lastly, updated CTRM systems are essential to keep up with the commercialization of new products, including carbon. The business case for carbon has been made, and energy companies are ready to focus on technology upgrades. Carbon trading, carbon management and monitoring, and carbon accounting processes will need to be incorporated into CTRM ecosystems to capture new market opportunities. Keep in mind the different ways to collaborate on a CTRM implementation or upgrade once your company is ready to proceed, and expect to see a huge demand in this area.

Our industry experts predict that in 2023, commercialization trends will emerge across the supply and trading industry, representing an opportunity for new optimizations and revenue streams.

Hydrogen & Batteries

Growth in hydrogen production and battery capacity is set to make their respective value chains more complex and to cause further fragmentation across secondary energy sources.

Both sectors will grow rapidly in 2030: it is forecast that 10% of the world’s electricity will be used for hydrogen manufacturing, where 13% of natural gas will be used for that process. Meanwhile, battery storage capacity will increase by twenty times, while growth in annual DER2 installation capacity will increase by three times. Therefore, it is essential for companies in the supply and trading industry to gain a good understanding of the upcoming trends for secondary energy sources and to be continually preparing for what’s next beyond the next year.

Natural Gas  

The natural gas and LNG markets are highly volatile, but there are ways of managing risks within them, including monetizing intraday natural gas volatility to better manage new risks and metrics, and leveraging the growing asset footprint for LNG trading. 

Ecosystem Partnerships   

Ecosystem partnerships focusing on the delivery of various energy projects will be a new gateway to untapped market opportunities. One way to leverage partnerships is to add oil and gas production to high-growth, low-risk areas, and to deliver new energy projects, such as Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), batteries and hydrogen. 

New Products & Services   

Meet carbon targets by introducing and monetizing new products and services across the ever-evolving value chain, such as building carbon offset and onset businesses or introducing offset-paired carbon-negative LNG products.

We will also see some companies explore the opportunity of using hydrogen and ammonia to clean up energy systems and to produce cement and steel.