Energy services: The relentless backbone of global energy security

Molly Determan, President, Energy Workforce & Technology Council  

The global energy system enters 2026 with a familiar truth that rarely earns its headline: the world still runs, because oilfield service companies do. In every basin and in every operating environment, the energy services workforce keeps supply moving, infrastructure functioning and reliability intact; often without recognition and almost always without pause. 

Over the last decade, the external narrative has swung aggressively. We have lived through cycles of peak-oil declarations, capital withdrawal, capital resurgence, transition urgency and energy-security realism. Through all of it, the energy services sector continued to drill, complete, lift and maintain—not out of defiance but discipline, Fig. 1. The market changed; the work remained. 

THE WORKFORCE THAT NEVER LEAVES THE FIELD 

The modern oilfield workforce is leaner, more technical and more accountable than at any time in its history. These are the people who keep deepwater equipment stable through current shifts, who adjust wireline pacing during dust storms, who call a halt when pressure readings matter more than schedule and who return after remote rotations to do it again. 

At Energy Workforce & Technology Council (EWTC), we represent the men and women operating across global theaters from pre-salt to Arctic shelves to mature brownfield assets. They are geoscientists, drill crews, tool specialists, logistical minds, fabricators and field supervisors, whose expertise makes the abstract achievable. If energy security has risen back to the top of geopolitical agendas, it is only because operational consistency never left the top of theirs.

Fig. 1. No matter the cycle that the industry may be in, the energy services sector continues to drill, complete, lift and maintain. Image: Patterson-UTI.

This work is also increasingly multicultural and multi-jurisdictional. Multi-language control rooms, cross-border crew logistics and shared HSE expectations are no longer the exception but the daily structure of service operations. The global workforce functions not just as technical talent but as a diplomatic layer quiet, competent and vital.

TECHNOLOGY MATTERS BUT IT IS NOT THE STORY 

Artificial intelligence, predictive maintenance algorithms, autonomous platforms and digital planning models are reshaping parts of the work. They sharpen forecasting windows, reduce downtime and support decision clarity. Yet, even in the most advanced offshore and desert operations, technology remains a tool…not the operator. 

The decisive advantage is still earned judgment: knowing when a trajectory shift signals risk rather than noise, when a blowdown should be escalated or when a rig floor needs to stop despite model confidence. Sensors support awareness; they do not replace instinct. That is the quiet constant of this workforce…people who have seen enough wells, enough weather and enough failure modes to recognize when the data are right and when they are simply late. 

In every international theater, the equation remains the same: equipment may evolve, data may accelerate, but wells still demand judgment and crews still shoulder consequence. A desert drilling spread facing heat distortion, a North Sea team timing liftboats around swells or a West African FPSO campaign threading logistics between weather windows— each operate with different boundaries yet identical pressures. Success is still measured in safe completions, stable flow and steady timelines…the fundamentals the workforce has protected through every market cycle. 

And that constancy frames how the sector thinks about guidance, preparation and leadership. 

GUIDELINES INFORMED BY REALITY 

The sector spends little time articulating its discipline publicly. It is, instead, reflected in guidelines, training and shared baselines: the unglamorous but essential infrastructure of industrial reliability. At EWTC, our focus remains on guidance that aligns with operations…a common language informed by field procedure, not theorized from distance. 

These collective practices are what allow multinational crews of operators and service companies to execute together. They are not prescriptive constraints but functional alignment—widely understood expectations that let teams manage risk while still moving at industry pace. 

Across regions, from North Sea electrification tie-ins to Middle East drilling expansions to Latin American FPSO campaigns, this alignment reduces misunderstanding and increases predictability. It is not dramatic work, but it is stabilizing work. 

A GLOBAL MARKET RESETTING TO EXECUTION 

The next chapter of supply is not being defined only by resource volume but by execution capability. Deepwater programs, Middle East development windows, North Sea modernization and onshore efficiencies all operate with the same constraint: talent depth and repeatability. 

The basins that will shape the next decade will not necessarily be the largest but the ones that can consistently: 

• Mobilize skilled crews
• Maintain safety discipline without halting pace
• Execute complex strings at predictable cost
• Integrate digital tools without eroding field judgment 

Commodity price matters, but execution remains the currency. In an era defined by geopolitical tightrope and logistical fragility, no factor is more decisive than the ability to deliver work exactly as intended. 

WHAT EWTC IS FOCUSED ON IN 2026 

During our strategic discussions this year, members were fully aligned: the association’s center of gravity remains exactly where the industry’s center of gravity has always been.

• The craft deserves pride, not apology
• Competency is the competitive advantage in every basin
• Guidelines must mirror operational reality, not theory
• Tools serve crews, not the other way around 

These aren’t slogans so much as working coordinates. They keep our efforts aligned with the people who do not have the luxury of narrative, they have responsibility. 

THE QUIET CONSTANT 

For all the shifting rhetoric around energy systems over the past decade, one fact has remained steady: the world continues to function, because thousands of crews execute with precision across time zones, weather windows and logistical constraints: 

• They are the reason LNG vessels berth on schedule 
• They are the reason pre-salt production stays within tolerance 
• They are the reason hospitals and data centers run without interruption. 

None of it is accidental. None of it is theoretical. 

Deepwater casing strings lower, because teams know how to read currents that instruments cannot fully anticipate. Temporary power systems stabilize, because technicians carry both certification and experience. Completion cadence holds, because someone has seen this exact well profile before and knows when to adjust. 

A STEADY INDUSTRY IN AN UNSTEADY WORLD 

As 2026 begins, the work will continue in the same cadence that has defined this sector for generations. Crews will rotate, wells will spud, pressure tests will hold, fabrication yards will hum at shift change, and another day’s worth of energy will reach global markets without ceremony. 

A steady industry is not always a celebrated one. But it is the essential one. And there remains a distinct, earned satisfaction in belonging to it…no announcement required.   

As President of the Energy Workforce & Technology Council, MOLLY DETERMAN leads the organization’s strategic agenda, representing the nation’s energy services and technology sector. She works with senior industry leaders, policymakers and global partners to advance the capabilities, competitiveness, and long-term strength of the energy workforce and supply chain. Ms. Determan is recognized for her perspective on industry strategy, organizational performance and the intersection of technology, operations, and talent in a rapidly evolving energy landscape. She guides the EWTC committees, sector benchmarking efforts, leadership programs, and key external collaborations, including EWTC’s partnership with the U.S. Department of State through the acclaimed industry overview course. Ms. Determan holds bachelor’s degrees in Journalism and German from Samford University and serves on the World Oil Editorial Advisory Board, the Success to Significance Host Committee for the Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council, and Rotary International. Her recognitions include E&P Magazine’s “40 Under Forty,” the STATIC Arabia Advisory Board, and the Houston Business Journal’s Women Who Mean Business Award.