Insight
Back in the black: global exploration review of 2018
Report summary
Exploration is back making money with a long-overdue recovery to double-digit returns. Our latest view of exploration results confirms all the hard work to cut costs and commercialise discoveries is bearing fruit. We already see exploration returns of 13% in 2018, the highest calculated in well over a decade. As these discoveries are appraised and projects move through the development cycle, we can expect these economics to improve further.
Table of contents
- Executive summary
- The story is only going to get better
- Big exploration is an exclusive club
- Large and giantdiscoveries
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How exploration returned to profitability
- Can this exploration recovery be sustained?
- Further analyses
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Appendix: Exploration performance modelling
- Fundamental principles
- Exploration spend
Tables and charts
This report includes 9 images and tables including:
- Full-cycle exploration returns 2009-2018
- Exploration value creation 2009-2018
- Volumes discovered
- Volume growth over time
- Volumes discovered by company in 2017
- Volumes discovered by company in 2018
- Large 2018 discoveries
- Top 15 countries by conventional new field discovered volumes
- Weighted average lead-time from discovery to first production
What's included
This report contains: