Digital Transformation of Oil and Gas Sector during Transition to Renewable Energy Sources

Abstract

Modern energy sector is going through the era of quantitative and qualitative changes which influence all its stakeholders: companies manufacturing and consuming energy, state, population, environmental protecting organizations. This process cannot be accurately predicted since oil, gas and coal mining companies resist changes in some degree, because the fourth energetic transition means the replacement of traditional carbohydrates and fossil fuel with innovative sources: sun, wind, geothermal energy. Their proportion in the world energy consumption is still small but grows increasingly. Therefore, the final energy balance of countries and territories is still unknown just as exact directions of export and import of such energy resources are unknown, since countries that previously only imported oil and gas can become new world leaders in the pure energy production. The fact that this problem is urgent in Russia does not cause any doubt due to the “Dutch disease” of economics, i.e. the dependence of the country budget on world prices for fossil fuel. At the same time, our country has a high potential of renewable sources, at least, wind energetic. The article reviews literature on approaches to industrial digital transformation and the place of renewable energetic in future business models. The transition to digital transformation is aligned with the UN Sustainable Development goals and the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. The theory of energy transitions by V. Smil is assessed by the authors as one of the most promising theories which describe the future of world energy and the place of renewable sources in it. The authors consider the dynamics of primary energy consumption in the world and curves of learning which show the growth of economic efficiency of renewable and non-traditional sources in comparison with traditional fossil fuels. The authors draw the conclusions about promising trends of the world energy development in the context of digital transformation.