German energy firm Wintershall’s chairman said today that industry needs to more stoic and pro-active if it wants to emerge from the downturn in good condition.
Speaking on day two of the Adipec conference in Abu Dhabi, Mario Mehren said the time to “stop complaining and start acting” had arrived.
Mr Mehren said: “2016 was a challenging year, 2017 still is and as for 2018, we have to see what it will bring.
“But we need to deal with oil price volatility, and view challenges as an opportunity.
“As an upstream company, we can cope with volatility. That is our day-to-day business.”
He said Wintershall’s approach was to save and invest and show that industry has learned from the downstream.
Mr Mehren said Wintershall had made record investments in the last three years and did not lay off staff thanks to its “healthy portfolio of projects”.
He added: “We have to get off the beaten track. Culture eats strategy for breakfast. The culture decides how any organisation deals with mistakes.
“Does the company learn or start playing the blame game.”
