Exploration well numbers this year could be 35% down on 2019 levels, according to Westwood Global Energy Group. Kai Gruschwitz, senior analyst, Global E&A, expects ~60-70 high-impact exploration wells will be completed by the end of 2020, which would be back down to numbers last seen from 2016 to 2018 following the 2014 price crash. The 26 ‘high-impact’ wells completed so far this year have discovered a total of around 2.1 Bboe and according to Westwood, wells currently drilling are testing a further 2.5 Bboe of risked volumes. The analyst now expects discovered volumes for 2020 to total 6-9 Bboe, compared with the 15 Bboe added last year worldwide.
