Global Conventional Discoveries Hit Record Low

Global conventional discoveries hit a record low in 2017, coming in at less than seven billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe), according to Rystad Energy.
This was the lowest figure since at least 2012, Rystad highlighted, when 30 billion boe was discovered around the globe. The total volume of global conventional discoveries stood at 16 billion boe in 2013, 15 billion boe in both 2014 and 2015, and eight billion boe in 2016.
“We haven’t seen anything like this since the 1940s,” Sonia Mladá Passos, senior analyst at Rystad Energy, said in an organization statement.
“The discovered volumes averaged at [around] 550 million barrels of oil equivalent per month. The most worrisome is the fact that the reserve replacement ratio in the current year reached only 11 percent (for oil and gas combined), compared to over 50 percent in 2012,” Passos added.
According to Rystad’s analysis, 2006 was the last year when the reserve replacement ratio reached 100 percent. This was said to be largely thanks to the giant onshore gas field Galkynysh in Turkmenistan.
In addition to revealing the reduction of the total volume of global discovered resources throughout the year, Rystad confirmed that resources per discovered field also went down.
An average offshore discovery in 2017 held around 100 million boe, compared to 150 million boe in 2012, according to Rystad.
“Low resources per discovered field can influence its commerciality. Under our current base case price scenario, we estimate that over 1 billion boe discovered during 2017 might never be developed”, Passos said.
The top three countries in terms of discovered volumes in 2017 were said to be Senegal, Mexico and Guyana.
In Senegal, Kosmos Energy discovered the Yakaar gas field. Mexico saw the Zama and Ixachi discoveries, together with some other smaller finds, which added around 1 billion boe of recoverable resources for the country, and ExxonMobil added another 1 billion boe of recoverable resources through its 2017 large discoveries like Payara, Turbot and Snoek in Guyana.
“While there have been some notable successes this year, we have to face the fact that the low discovered volumes on a global level represent a serious threat to the supply levels some ten years down the road,” Passos said.
“Global exploration expenditures have decreased year-over-year for three consecutive years now, falling by over 60 percent from 2014 to 2017. We need to see a turnaround in this trend if a significant supply deficit is to be avoided in the future,” Passos added.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.
- Bankrupt Sri Lanka Takes Russia Oil
- FERC Approves Gas Pipeline Projects To Increase U.S. Exports
- A Guide to the Week's Oil and Gas Market Hits and Misses
- U.S. Announces First Ever Offshore Wind Sale On Pacific Coast
- Windfall Tax Branded a Backward Step
- Equinor Exits All Russia Joint Ventures
- Chevron Investors Go For Energy Transition In Near-Unanimous Vote
- Chevron Makes New Appointments In Leadership Structure
- DOI Invests $33MM Putting People to Work in Orphaned Well Program
- EU Leans Toward Delaying Pipeline Ban to Clinch Oil Deal
- Oil Inventories Down to Dangerously Low Point
- USA Fuelmakers Shifting Into Higher Gear
- ExxonMobil Selling Shale Assets for $750MM
- Shots Fired During Tanker Loading
- NPD Grants Slew of Drilling Permits
- World's Oil Growth Engine Is About to Slow
- Saudi Arabia Says It Has Done All It Can for the Oil Market
- FID For $13.2B Louisiana LNG Project
- BlackRock Told Texas It Will Still Invest In Oil And Gas
- Ruble Hits 5-Year High as Gas Buyers Bend to Putin Demand
- Russian Oil Producers Start Using Tankers the World Did Not Want
- ADNOC Announces 650MM Barrel Oil Find
- Finland Loses Main Gas Supply
- This Is Where the Oil Price Would Be Without the War
- Ban on Excessive Gasoline Prices Heading for Vote
- Oil and Gas Discovery Confirmed at Hamlet
- Oil Inventories Down to Dangerously Low Point
- Top Headlines: Be Prepared to Pay More at the Pump from June
- USA Fuelmakers Shifting Into Higher Gear
- Gas Prices Could Rocket in the Near Term