Adaptation to technological advances and new efficiency methodologies is key for the future of the petroleum industry, the heads of prominent oil companies said yesterday at the 22nd World Petroleum Congress in Istanbul.

Speaking at a session titled "Leading Through Change," Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne declared three challenges in the petroleum industry to be economic volatility, geopolitical uncertainties and climate change.

Facing economic volatility has been a challenge for all of the petroleum sector players since 2014, Pouyanne said. He explained that to respond to market volatility, energy players need to adapt and find ways to become more efficient.

Pouyanne said that the world today is characterized by many conflicts and political uncertainties, particularly in the Middle East and the Mediterranean.

"I think that in this order, the oil and gas industry can be a stabilizing factor," he asserted.

The oil and gas industry can maintain decent living conditions and ensure economic development by providing energy while continuing to invest, he added.

"People are building too many walls and not enough bridges," Pouyanne said.

He identified climate change as a long-term challenge while maintaining that the industry should focus more on providing clean energy.

"We have to be responsible collectively with this challenge. We see the fact, but at the same time we should also not forget what our fundamental mission is, which is to be able to provide the world with reliable and affordable energy," he said.

"The industry needs to invest more today to meet the demand of decades to come," he said.

An energy-mixed revolution will transpire in the coming years along with technological changes, Pouyanne remarked.

Speaking at the same session, Decio Oddone, director general of Brazil's National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP), said that the speed of change has escalated with progress and technology.

Development of shale and continuous progress in technology have proven that oil resources are not as limited as we used to think years ago," Oddone said. "We are living at a time in which we worry about climate change, and as a result, we are initiating the transition to a low carbon economy."

The world needs oil and gas, but in a different way, Oddone said. "Successful players will be the ones that learn to anticipate change and develop growing capacity to adapt."