Oil industry operators 'not investing in ETRM'

ETRM solutions - energy trading and risk management - allow oil industry operators to analyse business processes ranging from bidding and pricing to deal capture and pipeline nominations.

However, figures from analyst IDC suggest that many within the oil industry are operating without these solutions in place - despite the research organisation suggesting that ETRM is "invaluable" in a turbulent market.

Senior research analyst for IDC Energy Insights Catherin Madden says: "Oil and gas companies are dependent on ETRM applications to get a complete view of their portfolios, which supports greater transparency and understanding of the level of risk the enterprise is exposed to."

But almost a third (31 per cent) of oil and gas companies surveyed have not yet implemented ETRM solutions to analyse their operations.

Resolving this situation could help individual firms to gain flexibility and position themselves for future competitiveness, the analyst suggests.

Ms Madden focuses on the upstream gas and oil market, where IDC claims the greatest amount of investment into IT solutions is currently being seen.