re: O&G- future for E&Ps/career advice?

I work for a major IOC.

My view is that we will see further consolidation and a decline in the traditional aspects of our industry, but it will be a slow bleed. Nothing will come overnight, and if you're concerns are around things like carbon/emissions/political climate shutting it down, that's not where I would focus my attention.

Instead, I see the risk to traditional O&G jobs being the same as the 'transitions' other industry have gone/are going through. More automation, offshoring, simplification, and fiscal discipline. This will slowly make employing US folks harder and more expensive, and we'll see a natural slimming down and change of the workforce. This has already started happening, but I see it accelerating. The jobs that E&P companies will need in 20 years look less like the ones they hire for now.

My two cents would be to stay in the job, but find ways of picking up skills and knowledge that would apply outside of just O&G. Learn about the broader industry, the entire supply chain, the tools/procedures that can work elsewhere...this ensures that (1) if you find a better opportunity, you can pounce and bring that portable know-how with you; and (2) if you lose your job, you have at least maximized the opportunities within it.