Offshore staff
OSLO, Norway – Global discoveries of conventional oil and gas totalled more than 4.5 Bboe during H1 2018, according to analyst Rystad Energy.
Average monthly discovered volumes were 826 MMboe, roughly 30% higher than the comparable figure of 625 MMboe in 2017.
Guyana led the way in terms of newly proven offshore resources followed by the US Gulf of Mexico, Cyprus, and Norway.
In the first three cases, all the finds were in ultra-deepwater and owned 100% by oil majors, indicating that this group is re-focused ondeepwater exploration.
The biggest offshore discovery to date is thought to be Eni’s Calypso gas find offshore southern Cyprus, Rystad said.
Off Guyana, ExxonMobil discovered oil in theRanger, Pacora and Longtail prospects in the Stabroek block with estimated combined resources of close to 1 Bboe or more.
In the GoM, Shell and Chevron discovered oil in theBallymore and Dover prospects in the HP/HT Norphlet play, characterized by complicated and elusive structures.
Ballymore was Chevron’s first discovery in the play, while Dover, 13 mi (21 km) from Appomattox, was Shell’s sixth in the play.
Eni’sCalypso 1 NFW ultra-deepwater well in block 6 off Cyprus encountered an extended gas column in Miocene and Cretaceous rocks, confirming the extension of a “Zohr-like” play off neighboring Egypt into the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone.
Finally, Rystad estimates OMV and Wintershall’s two discoveries in the Norwegian Sea at 240 MMboe recoverable (combined). Aker BP and Equinor also made two finds in the Norwegian North Sea with total resources of 75 MMboe.
Rystad expects this trend to continue during H2 2018 with continued exploration of emerging offshore provinces and many potentially high-impact wells.
“E&P players are currently facing a low reserve replacement ratio, on average of less than 10%. This is worrisome considering the impact on global oil supply in long term,” cautioned Espen Erlingsen, Head of Upstream Research at Rystad Energy.
07/27/2018
