…Nigeria’s oil discoveries in North missing in global listing
…Value creation reaches $33billion at base price
New global oil and gas discoveries hit record high in a decade last year, spurring value creation from the exploration segment to about $33 billion at the base.
Namibia, Brazil and Algeria stood out in the discoveries as Nigeria is missing despite announcing the discovery of over one billion barrels of oil in the northern part of the country.
As the world races towards net-zero, fossil fuel has been a major enemy as activists and the International Energy Agency (IEA) asked investors not to fund new oil, gas and coal supply projects if the world wants to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
Wood Mackenzie in a release noted “global oil and gas exploration sector had its strongest year in 2022 in more than a decade.”
The report acknowledged that attempts to lower-carbon, lower-cost advantaged hydrocarbons enabled the sector to create at least $33 billion of value and achieve full-cycle returns of 22 per cent at $60/barrel Brent prices.
The report, “Wood Mackenzie’s ‘Oil and gas exploration: 2022 in review” noted that the number of wells were less than half the numbers during pre-pandemic years, yet the total volume of 20 billion barrels of oil equivalent matched the average annual volumes of 2013-2019.
Director of global exploration research at Wood Mackenzie, Julie Wilson disclosed that the year was remarkable for exploration activities, and stressed that the volumes of discoveries were good, but not stellar.
“However, explorers were able to drive very high value through strategic selection and focusing on the best and largest prospects. The discoveries bring higher-quality hydrocarbons into companies’ portfolios, allowing them to reduce carbon by displacing less advantaged oil and gas supplies while also meeting the world’s energy needs,” Wilson noted.
Despite the much-trumpeted in-land basin reported discoveries in Nigeria, WoodMac noted that much of the listed discoveries are from deepwater.