Wildcat completions trend increases

In IHS Group's World Petroleum Trends Report 2002, the number of new field wildcat wells completed in 2001 globally, except North America, increased by 73 compared to 2000. Despite this increase, the number of oil and gas discoveries reported fell by 53, totaling 173 new oil discoveries and 162 new gas discoveries for 2001. Estimated volumes of new hydrocarbon discoveries made in 2001 were almost 9 Bbbl of liquid and 42 tcf of gas.
Significantly, of the total ex-North American gas reserves discovered in 2001, 54% were in Far East Australasia. Total world production of liquids in 2001 remains flat at 26.8 Bbbl while gas production continues to increase to 94.6 tcf. New gas discoveries were significantly below annual production in 2001, the first year since 1995. For most regions of the world, liquids production decreased slightly in 2000, but a significant increase in Russian output with a smaller increase in Latin American output brought total production to just over 73.3 MMbbl/d in 2000. Gas production rose in all regions except for Latin America and increased globally from 252 bcf/d in 2000 to 259 bcf/d in 2001.