If the remainder of 2019 continues at the same pace of first-quarter oil discoveries, the year will exceed resources discovered in 2018 by 30%, according to energy intelligence group Rystad Energy.
Rystad said on Monday, April 08, that global oil discoveries in the first quarter reached a hefty 3,2 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe). Taiyab Zain Shariffa Rystad, upstream analyst at Rystad Energy said: "If the rest of 2019 continues at a similar pace, this year will be on track to outperform last year's discovered resources by 30%."
Most of the gains were recorded in February, recording 2,2 billion barrels of discovered resources which, according to Rystad, was the best monthly record since August 2015.
Rystad added that major oil companies are leading the charge in exploration, with more than 2,4 billion boe (oil and gas) of resources discovered. The six biggest discoveries by the major companies each exceed 150 million boe, and the three biggest could have more than 300 million boe.
"ExxonMobil was the most successful, with three major offshore discoveries accounting for 38% of total oil and gas volumes discovered’ said Rystad. Rystad placed Exxon's recent Glaucus discovery offshore Cyprus at the top of its list of top 15 conventional discoveries for the first quarter of the year, followed by Total's Brulpadda discovery in South Africa.
“Major European automakers Total and Eni are also in the group with successful offshore wells in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Angola and Egypt,” the intelligence company said.
As for onshore, gas from Kali Berau Dalam, operated by Repsol, in Indonesia, is the name of the main discovery in the quarter.
Rystad also stated that, from a global perspective, the pressure for substantial new discoveries shows no signs of slowing down, with another 35 high-impact exploration wells expected to be drilled this year, both onshore and offshore.
Three of these highly prospective wells are already underway – the Peroba, in the Santos Basin, operated by Shell, in Brazil, with prospective resource estimates of 5,3 billion boe and which, in early January, Petrobras made the first discovery in the area, acquired in consortium with CNODC and BP Energy in the 3rd sharing round.
Eni's Kekra well in Pakistani waters with prospective resource estimates of 1,5 billion boe and the total Etzil operated well offshore Mexico with prospective pre-drill resource estimates of 2,7 billion boe.
“If these wells are successful, the 2019 interim resources discovered will be the largest since the slowdown in 2014,” added Shariff.
