At the first day of APPEX, Andrew Latham, VP Global Exploration at Wood Mackenzie, gave an interesting overview of exploration trends and outlook in his talk:
2019 was another good year for exploration, with over 21 Bboe found (65 per cent gas), including at least nine giant discoveries worldwide, according to Latham.
Latham also notes two secular trends in exploration: volumes are smaller, and exploration is profitable again after an almost decade-long no-value creation period.
The only discovery to reach the global top 20 is the Glengorm discovery on the UKCS, ranked at no. 16.
When all discoveries per country are summed up, Guyana stands out with a proven value close to 10 billion USD, almost four times the value of the next country on the list, China.
The Norwegian discoveries sum up to no 4 on this list, with an estimated value of roughly two billion USD, and the UK placed at no 6, with an estimated value of ~1.8 billion USD.
Listing the 15 top explorer companies by their discovered volume, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) proved close to five Bboe, with Gazprom (3.2 Bboe) and BP (1.4 Bboe) on second and third place.
The Majors explore for higher-impact wells in areas of established to late-emerging maturity. The exception being Chevron aiming for Frontier areas.
The global liquid supply and demand calculated to the year 2040 show there is still room to explore for more, even in a low-carbon scenario with 50 to 200 Bboe yet-to-find.
For gas, the global supply and demand for the same period will increase the need for further exploration. At least 100- 200 Bboe of gas are needed, according to Latham from Wood Mackenzie.
The Glengorm discovery will be presented at the “NCS Exploration – Recent discoveries” conference in May 12-13 at Scandic fornebu in Oslo.
APPEX 2020
More than 350 delegates from more than 50 different countries are attending the APPEX Global 2020 at Business Design Centre in London, UK. APPEX stands for AAPG Prospect and Property EXPO.
APPEX allows people to get updated on global exploration opportunities, to obtain in-depth information on prospects, see the science behind the prospects and connect with the people bringing each of the opportunities forward.
The conference is focussing on the possibilities for companies to farm-out and APPEX is an opportunity where they can present their prospect.
Companies are farming out to secure funding to fulfil their work-programs, and to e.g. acquire new seismic and finally, to drill their prospect.
