CEO of British Petroleum, Bob Dudley.

Cheap prices of oil are here to stay, and all of the energy companies will have to face that reality, said British Petroleum’s CEO on Tuesday. “I think that the industry will have to get used to the fact that they will need to prepare for low incomes in the future”, said Bob Dudley at the IHS CERA Week energy conference which took place in Houston. In spite of the slight recovery that has been made in the past year the price of global crude oil is still 40% lower than last year. The price for the commodity lost its ground yet again on Tuesday at the New York Mercantile Exchange when West Texas Intermediate futures agreed on a price that is almost 2% lower, making the cost per barrel $55.26.

In Dudley’s opinion these current prices could stay at a similar level for a few years to come. Dudley believes that the United States production will keep on growing in spite of oil companies’ reduced number of total active rigs. It is a challenge for the companies and they must find a suitable way to stay profitable while working with tighter drill regulations and cheap oil prices, said Dudley. “It is my belief that the industry will find a way,” Dudley added. British Petroleum has completely transformed since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The standard has been significantly raised since the unfortunate event and because of the disaster the global oil industry has to make changes in their ways if they want to fit in with the world developments, said Dudley.

Dudley also added that even though this tough period for the industry has sparked speculations about mergers in the media, “we didn’t talk with anyone,” about being bought or making any acquisitions. Many big media companies have reported of certain talks about mergers in the industry, they say that although no one has come out in public with this yet, there is a big possibility that something like this could be expected in the near future. Many companies are struggling at this point with prices remaining at this level, some even say that Dudley’s views are too optimistic and that the industry is in a much bigger slump than it seems as they will have to make drastic moves in order to improve the current situation.