The E&P industry comprises major oil companies that recorded $2.47 trillion in revenues globally last year. However, those companies are expected to make $1.47 trillion, with a 40 percent decline year-on-year.

The ongoing lockdown and transitory effects of the pandemic have caused big concerns within the industry globally. As a result, E&P companies are forced to reduce spending and cancel projects in the pipeline, incurring significant losses.

Rystad Energy in its report said, “This year might be marked by the lowest project sanctioning activity since the 1950s in terms of total sanctioned investments, dropping to $110 billion, or less than one-quarter of the 2019 level, with most of the projects being deferred.” It is an energy research and business intelligence company.

Now returns for 2021 is also expected to be lower at $1.79 trillion compared to $2.52 trillion forecasted before the pandemic. The energy sector is contracting at a rapid pace, media reports said. The oil and gas industry represents only 3 percent of the whole S&P index. The percentage is alarming as it accounted for 15 percent of the index 10 years ago and 30 percent in 1980.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the oil and gas industry might face demand loss of 9.3 million barrels per day in 2020 as all major economies and companies are forced to shut down as part of lockdown.

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Singapore’s building sector’s current figure is lower compared to the previous forecast of 3.2 percent contraction. This in turn has made the city-state the most aggressively hit market in the Southeast Asia region.

According to the media reports, Fitch said that more than 21,000 tests have been conducted on migrant workers. This represents nearly 6 percent of the migrant worker populations. The report also noted that activity in Singapore’s construction sector is anticipated to recover gradually in the second half of the year. However, it does not indicate that the recovery will match last year’s industry levels.

Although the shortage of labour is seen across all construction projects, reduced investments in Singapore’s building sector last year might result in lower construction activity in 2020. “We forecast the building construction sector to shrink by 11.5 percent year on year, a drop of 6.3 percentage points from our previous forecast of minus 5.2 percent,” the report said.

However, Fitch foresees a number of significant government contracts to be awarded during the year to further enhance the public transport system, media reports said. These contracts include the construction of MRT Jurong Region and Cross Island Lines, as well as select parts of North-South Corridor.

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