Exploration for oil and gas was hit hard when crude prices crashed in 2014. Within two years, companies had slashed their spending on exploration and appraisal — and with it the number of wells they were drilling — by more than half.
Things are looking up, however. Last year, the industry started to reap the benefit of cost cutting and efficiencies such as quicker drilling programmes. The spending fell, but the number of wells actually increased, according to data from Wood Mackenzie. This year, the trend is forecast to continue and the consultancy says “there are early signs that the exploration sector may soon return to profit”.
It believes the biggest excitement will be in deepwater drilling on either side of the Atlantic: including offshore