Asia-Pacific upstream 2017 in review: operators lean, governments mean, explorers not keen Report

Insight 24 January 2018

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*Please note that this report only includes an Excel data file if this is indicated in "What's included" below

Report summary

2017 in Asia Pacific did not look like the beginning of the end of the downturn, but it may have been the end of the beginning. The year saw licence awards and resources discovered hold steady, but exploration drilling continued to fall, M&A was patchy and FIDs were few and far between. Exploration – A year of depressed budgets saw delayed drilling commitments or dropping them altogether become a common theme, especially so in deepwater. Both E&A wells completed and exploration licence awards hit a new low of 251 and 52, respectively. Development – Only six FIDs as most companies continued to re-examine and review project options. Total regional capex was US$63 billion, down 8% decline on 2016. Corporate – The Majors tried to accelerate regional asset disposals, with mixed success. Our M&A tool recorded a net resource of 1 billion boe being sold, mostly to regional players.

Executive summary
Exploration and licensing
- Fewer blocks on offer, with focus on shallow water
- High-risk frontier basins shunned, near-field or infrastructure preferred
- A dearth of discoveries and NOCs made most of them
- Smaller discoveries with low-cost monetisation option
Development
- Deepwater gas progress
- Rocky start to greenfield LNG projects, but backfill option progresses
- Australia’s domestic gas market had a tumultuous year
- Effect on supply-demand gap
Corporate
- Mixed success for Majors on asset disposals
- NOCs remained active in the M&A market
- Opportunities for regional players
Fiscal
- Few regional changes – 2017 dominated by Indonesia’s Gross Split

Tables and charts

This report includes the following images and tables:

Licence awards by country 2013-2017
E&A drilling activity 2013-2017
Upstream capital expenditure 2016-2018

Announced M&A spend by resource theme 2013-2017
2017 net Asia Pacific buyers/sellers
Top 10 discoveries in 2017
2017 discovered resources by country
Australia domestic gas supply and demand 2017-2025

What's included

This report contains:

Asia-Pacific upstream 2017 in review.xlsx (2)

XLSX 183.00 KB
Asia-Pacific upstream 2017 in review: operators lean, governments mean, explorers not keen

PDF 795.24 KB