Insight
The efficiency revolution: more bang for your exploration buck
*Please note that this report only includes an Excel data file if this is indicated in "What's included" below
Report summary
Conventional exploration's headline metrics since 2000 tell a story of decline: well counts are down 60% from their 2014 peak, discovered volumes are below historical averages, and total spend has settled at less than a third of its all-time high. But this reading misses the point. This paper argues that the post-2015 era represents a genuine efficiency revolution, not a sector in retreat. Volumes discovered per well have doubled since the early 2000s. Per-well spend has fallen and stabilised. Discovery costs on an overall basis remain under US$3/boe. The industry is doing more with less.
Table of contents
- NOCs are becoming bigger players in conventional exploration
- Geographic concentration
- Deepwater is the Majors domain
- Where to find exploration and appraisal spend data in Lens
- Methodology
Tables and charts
This report includes the following images and tables:
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Proportion of total spend by peer groupProportion of total spend by peer groupProportion of exploration spend by top five countries by Major (2015-2025)
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Proportion of exploration spend by water depth and peer group (2015-2025)Spend in Lens and Lens DirectSchematic breakdown of reported spend numbers
What's included
This report contains:
