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24 min ago 2 min read
The Middle East crisis has exposed weaknesses across global supply chains – and they are becoming more magnified in the energy industry, according to new research.
In a survey of 303 firms, risk management firm Achilles found only 5% reported full supplier visibility and just over two-thirds reported limited or zero visibility.
Adam Whitfield, Head of Global Compliance and ESG, said given the energy sector is currently operating in a highly disrupted environment, visibility across supplier networks becomes even more important.
“Managing risk in this environment requires more than periodic checks,” he said. “As these pressures continue, strengthening supplier oversight and improving visibility will be critical to maintaining operational resilience and managing risk to ensure issues are identified early and managed effectively.”
Artificial intelligence (AI) is being increasingly courted by firms with more than two-thirds either exploring AI or piloting AI use cases, the research found, which is likely to lead to stronger decision making and improved supplier data accuracy.
However adoption is at an early stage and barriers include limited internal capabilities, integration challenges with legacy systems and the need for human validation of outputs.
The latest highlights industrial gas supply chain fragilities are no longer episodic but embedded.
The sharp escalation in geopolitical risk following the outbreak of conflict involving Iran has compounded already fragile industrial gas supply chains.
While direct physical disruptions remain uneven across gases, the conflict has materially increased market tightness, price volatility, and logistical uncertainty with LNG, helium and CO2 in the spotlight.
Helium may have as the Gulf crisis continues to expose the fragility of global supply chains, but the ripples are being felt across sectors , equally vital to chip manufacturing, now coming under scrutiny.
The logistics of the chemicals industry, including industrial gases in places, is increasingly threatened by the ongoing impact of the war, and could prompt that creates new investment opportunities.
