OPINION: For all its talk of innovation, flexibility and the benefits of “disruptive” technology, the oil and gas industry, like all businesses, craves predictability.

Two years of Covid-19 have dealt a severe blow to that notion, and just when many thought the worst was well behind, the blows keep coming.

The emergence of the new Omicron Covid-19 variant sent stocks and oil prices tumbling last week. Brent crude took a hit of more than 10%, its sharpest fall since April 2020, when much of the world went into pandemic lockdown.