Majors, NOCs accelerating offshore exploration, report finds

“The highest value came from world-class discoveries in a new deepwater play in Namibia, as well as resource additions in Algeria and several new deepwater discoveries in Guyana and Brazil, where the latest wave of presalt exploration finally met with success. The average discovery last year was over 150 MMboe, more than double the average of the previous decade.”

Liquids accounted for 60% of new resources proven, the report found.

“There is a lot of uncertainty in future long-term demand scenarios for oil,” Wilson cautioned. “Explorers are accelerating oil exploration to meet near and mid-term demand, while gas exploration was focused in geographies that can supply the gas-hungry European market.

“In some cases, major leases are approaching expiration of the exploration term and companies are pushing to optimize their value. By 2030, fast-tracked development of these new discoveries could deliver 1 Mbbl/d in oil and 0.5 MMboe/d gas production, generating $15 billion in free cash flow.”

National oil companies (NOCs) and majors such as TotalEnergies, QatarEnergy and Petrobras accounted for almost three-quarters of new resources discovered.

“However, spend per well increased due to inflationary pressures,” Wilson noted. "Appraisal well numbers increased as companies push toward final investment decisions in this short-term window of opportunity.”