New entrant exploration and production companies to the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) since 2008 now control 46 percent of production.

That’s according to Westwood Global Energy Group, which revealed in a recent statement posted on its website that the appetite of new entrants for buying producing assets has not yet been matched by their appetite for investment in new production.

Westwood highlighted that new entrants have so far moved only 577 million barrels of reserves into production since 2008, 16 percent of the total in that time, and funded only 16 percent of exploration drilling.

The company noted that this is set to change though, as new entrants “hold the key to sustaining UKCS production, controlling over 60 percent of the 1.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent of unsanctioned and potentially commercial resources in the UKCS”.

New entrants are also stepping up exploration efforts and will be funding over 16 net exploration wells -70 percent of the total planned - in the next two years, Westwood pointed out.

According to Westwood, new entrants since 2008 have spent $29 billion in UKCS asset and corporate deals where a consideration has been announced.

Westwood delivers independent information, research and consulting services for global energy markets, according to its website. The company, which is headquartered in Aberdeen, was formed in January 2015 by Energy Ventures, an energy specialist private equity firm.

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