BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 28. ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, TotalEnergies, Eni, and Chevron, collectively known as the six majors, retain a pivotal role in the worldwide exploration arena, commanding a substantial share of exploration expenditure and global conventional discoveries, Trend reports via Rystad Energy, independent energy research and business intelligence company from Norway.
Thus, according to the company's analysis, the collective investment of these six companies in exploration is projected to reach approximately $7 billion this year, representing a noteworthy 10-percent increase compared to 2022.
Anticipated acceleration in exploration endeavors is foreseen during the latter half of 2023, marked by significant drilling activities targeting crucial exploration wells. According to the Rystad Energy predictions, the majors are set to contribute approximately 14 percent to the overall global exploration spending in the upcoming months. This spotlight on the majors underscores their relative importance within a landscape that has shifted its exploration focus toward the offshore sector, particularly uncharted regions. These untapped frontiers are home to some of the most promising yet-to-be-explored prospects, a domain in which the majors have assumed a pivotal role in recent times.
While the majors are firmly established through their spending and activity patterns, it is essential to note that national oil companies (NOCs) wield the most extensive underground resource reservoir at their collective disposal. In the trajectory for 2023, over half of the projected exploration expenditure is attributed to NOCs and NOCs with international portfolios (INOCs), Rystad Energy said.
However, the potential for success this year remains, with only 30 percent of the projected wells having been drilled. This fact underscores the scale of pending activity. Out of the remaining 56 exploration wells, merely 23 have been drilled or are scheduled for drilling this year, implying that approximately 60 percent could either be drilled or postponed until 2024. Thus, even if 2023 does not yield the desired outcomes, the possibility of a rebound in the following year remains plausible, the company noted.