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Software AG Sees Energy Market Merger Mania in 2015 as Oil Prices Exert Pressure
[January 21, 2015]

Software AG Sees Energy Market Merger Mania in 2015 as Oil Prices Exert Pressure


Software AG (Frankfurt TecDAX: SOW) today released the company's top five 2015 predictions for the digital energy industry, noting that fluctuating oil prices will cause shifts in mergers and push oil companies to embrace the Internet of Things (IoT) to monitor analytics and optimize efficiencies.

"Mega-mergers such as Halliburton and Baker Hughes (News - Alert) may fail due to antitrust concerns, but we may still see more merger activity as larger companies scoop up smaller, tech-savvy independents," says Donald Fisher, Senior Director of Energy Solutions at Software AG, "Oil prices will be the overriding concern next year and may dictate everything we see going forward."

The ongoing political debate over major oil projects like the Keystone XL Pipeline, for which the Senate recently voted against legislation supporting its completion, will spark energy companies to view technology lie predictive analytics for IoT as essential both to ensure project safety and to overcome perceptions of high risk among lawmakers.



Software AG's Top Five Digital Energy Predictions for 2015:

1 - The mega-merger of operators Halliburton and Baker Hughes will fail: The merger of two of the world's largest oilfield operators will fail to make it through the antitrust regulators, forcing Halliburton to find another partner to help it achieve global scale and efficiencies.


2 - Majors will swoop in and acquire niche market players for their technology: Lower oil prices will dampen the value of smaller oil & gas explorers, tempting major oil companies to scoop up some of the more technologically advanced firms at bargain prices.

3 - A major infrastructure incident will spark an industry-wide move toward predictive maintenance: A major refinery, storage tank or oil shipping incident will encourage oil companies to improve asset integrity by embracing the IoT; adding sensors to connect assets for monitoring and predictive maintenance.

4 - Lower oil prices will push oil exploration companies toward the Internet of Things: The drop in oil prices will force oil exploration companies to add automation and IoT sensors, giving them the ability to optimize operating efficiencies and reduce labor and services costs.

5 - Solar growth will flummox the U.S. electricity grid: Explosive growth in solar power will create supply volatility in the U.S. grid and will disrupt electricity supply, nudging operators closer to forming an intelligent grid.

About Software AG

Software AG (Frankfurt TecDAX: SOW) helps organizations achieve their business objectives faster. The company's big data, integration and business process technologies enable customers to drive operational efficiency, modernize their systems and optimize processes for smarter decisions and better service. Building on over 40 years of customer-centric innovation, the company is ranked as a leader in fourteen market categories, fueled by core product families Adabas-Natural, ARIS, Alfabet, Apama, Terracotta and webMethods (News - Alert). Software AG has more than 4,600 employees in 70 countries and had revenues of €973 million in 2013.

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