Two of Top Three 2018 Finds Were Gas: Rystad

This year stands already as the best year for global oil and gas exploration since 2015, said Oslo-based consultancy Rystad Energy December 17.

Two of the three largest discoveries in 2018 were gas: Eni’s Calypso gas discovery offshore Cyprus – confirming the extension of a play in the Cyprus exclusive economic zone that resembles the giant Zohr field to the south in Egyptian waters – was in second place, ahead of PDO’s Mabrouk North East gas/condensate find onshore Oman, both announced 1Q 2018.

With each being about 670mn barrels of oil equivalent, they were both surpassed however by the largely oil discovery yielding 960mn boe recoverable resources made by Novatek's first exploratory well in the North Obskoye block in the shallow waters of western Siberia’s Ob Bay.

The Hades/Iris gas/condensate discovery made by OMV offshore Norway, in 13th place at 191mn boe, was the largest 2018 find made off northwest Europe; it has also become a focus for the ongoing hostile takeover battle by DNO for Faroe Petroleum. 

Discovered resources have already surpassed 8.8bn boe so far in 2018 and may reach 9.4bn boe by end-2018 – with Guyana, Russia and the US topping the list, the consultancy added. “We at Rystad expect this discovery trend to continue into 2019 with many promising high-impact wells targeting vast potential,” says Palzor Shenga, its senior upstream analyst.

Offshore discoveries accounted for around 82% of total volumes, while 2018 overall saw a significant uptick in the reserve replacement ratio to around 15% from 11% in 2017. Exploration spending declined by nearly 61% from 2014 to 2018, but the trend halted in 2018 and with spending expected to rise in 2019 (Graphics below courtesy of Rystad Energy)