How We Help Clients

Strategy & Risk

Enabling growth and resilience in a volatile oil and gas market
We partner with oil and gas companies to craft distinctive strategies that drive growth, enhance resilience, and create lasting value for shareholders in an ever-changing market landscape.

In an era marked by profound transformation, the oil and gas industry faces unprecedented challenges and opportunities. Volatile commodity markets, escalating geopolitical tensions, evolving regulatory landscapes, and the push toward the energy transition are reshaping the strategic landscape. To thrive amid these dynamics, industry players must adapt their strategies to preserve shareholder value creation and ensure company resilience.

Technological innovations—digitalization, automation, and enhanced recovery techniques—are reshaping how companies explore, produce, and distribute oil and gas. These advancements require strategic investments to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

We are committed to guiding companies through the energy transition, ensuring resilience and sustained growth in a rapidly changing world. To support companies in this complex environment, we offer a suite of advanced solutions:

  • Strategic planning and delivery: creating transparency on the potential way forward for oil and gas companies, from portfolio rationalization to identifying new growth areas using an investor’s lens. Our work is backed by distinctive capital market benchmarks, bringing deep insights for value creation. Further, we assist companies to execute their strategy by supporting them during implementation.
  • M&A life cycle support: supporting companies in the end-to-end M&A process—from shaping the ideal target profiles to performing due diligences to pre- and post-merger management. During the execution stage, we work closely with companies to define their business goals and strategies, make their business attractive to investors, and identify the benefits of an M&S partnership, with a focus on creating value from transactions.
  • Green business building: helping companies build new businesses from the design phase to full delivery. Examples include the development of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technologies, and integrating renewable energy sources to meet emissions reduction targets.

Our team comprises over 400 consultants with deep expertise in oil and gas strategy, supported by a global network of industry specialists and cross-sector professionals from our Strategy & Corporate Finance Practice.

Examples of our work

We have a track record of working with companies in multiple strategic areas. By developing market perspectives and understanding trends and outlooks, we ensure our work is built on a robust fact base.

Restructuring an investment portfolio for growth in new energy segments

Helped a company develop an investment platform for global energy markets by providing strategic advisory and operational support. The initiative enabled the company to successfully enter new markets and diversify its energy portfolio.

In-depth market analysis and investment planning were conducted to pinpoint profitable opportunities in the energy transition space. The company used these insights to drive growth in low-carbon segments.

Driving digital (and AI-led) transformation

Developed and implemented a comprehensive, multiyear, digital factory program to enhance digital capabilities for a gas distribution system operator (DSO). The program led to significant operational efficiencies and improved service delivery. Consequently, the company achieved a substantial reduction in operational expenditure, up to 30 percent, over the following eight years. Additionally, greater digitization helped the company to scale its sustainability efforts.

Reinventing a company operating model

Designed a large company’s new corporate operating model to maximize the company’s value in capital markets. The overall company setup was designed by carving out new energy businesses to ensure cash-flow sustainability for the upstream, making sure that each business division had its own targeted investors.

The company adopted the strategy and has already doubled the enterprise value of two carved-out businesses, while keeping a healthy financial framework for the whole group.

Setting up and executing an end-to-end corporate strategy

Assisted in formalizing an integrated equity case and executing a comprehensive transformation strategy that encompassed financial, operational, customer, employee, social, environmental, and capability dimensions. Key initiatives included developing a value capture plan, clarifying market offerings, integrating a new organizational culture, and conducting a large-scale organizational health survey. These efforts resulted in enhanced strategic clarity and operational efficiency for the company.

Featured Capabilities

We dedicate substantial resources to the development of proprietary tools, databases, and methodologies.

Energy Solutions Market Intelligence
Our energy solution models, including our Global Gas Model, Global Downstream Model, and Offshore Drilling Model, provide companies with granular data on fundamentals, customizable scenario-development capabilities, and integrated supply and demand perspectives.
Global Energy Perspective
Our extensive proprietary database includes over 25 years of operations performance insights across a broad set of global upstream oil and gas assets, covering operating expenditures, production efficiency, deferments, safety, and emissions performance.
Capital Markets’ Diagnostic Tool
Our Capital Markets’ Diagnostic Tool helps leaders measure, interpret, and manage the real sources of value in their company. Diagnostics include industry-tailored breakdowns of a company's current stock market valuation and its relationship to business performance and growth.
OptimusAI
OptimusAI allows companies to identify their full potential at asset level, enabling significant increases in operational efficiencies. AI is used to maximize plant productivity and minimize costs (such as reducing idle time or improving energy efficiency).

Our people

Nikhil Ati
Houston
Advises energy, chemicals, and materials companies and investors on decarbonization and the energy transition
Christian Therkelsen
Oslo
Shapes value-creation agendas and drives performance transformations with clients in the energy and basic-materials sectors
Azam Mohammad
Singapore
Co-leads McKinsey’s Asia-Pacific Operations Practice and leads our Asian Energy Practice, supporting clients across tech enabled...
Namit Sharma
Amsterdam
Brings extensive experience in serving oil and gas companies around the world, with particular focus on strategy and capital...

Featured insights

Aerial view Real time Footage of above Brisbane river over Kurilpa Bridge, Victoria Bridge and Captain Cook Bridge beside Modern Office Building at night time in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, Business Financial Industry and Travel Destination Concept
Report

Global Energy Perspective 2025

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Geopolitical uncertainty, shifting policies, and increasing demand for power are reshaping the energy landscape. In this year’s report, we present our updated view on what’s to come in the energy system.
Ship delivering cargo in the stormy Mediterranean sea
Article
How to capture the next S-curve in commodity trading
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In the past few years, commodity traders focused on taking advantage of high volatility. Today, amid leaner industry margins, successful traders can maximize value from existing assets.
Patrick Pouyanné headshot
Interview - McKinsey Quarterly
TotalEnergies’ tightrope transition: A talk with Patrick Pouyanné
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The chairman and CEO of the French oil major talks about why he’s sticking to his strategy to gradually shift from oil to electrons, which he calls “the energy of the 21st century.”
Close-up of little girl using tablet at night
Interactive
Resetting expectations for the energy and materials transition
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As a reality gap emerges between net-zero goals and the actions needed to achieve them, what happens in the energy and materials sectors will determine the pace of low-carbon technology rollout.
Oil platform in middle of ocean - stock photo
Article
Key considerations for CEOs in the oil and gas sector
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The oil and gas industry has recently seen strong financial performance and is refocusing on its core, but it still needs to find answers to drive growth post-2030.