Deepwater Gulf of Mexico: how are explorers commercialising discoveries?

Since 2015 and the collapse of oil prices, exploration in deepwater Gulf of Mexico has been forced to re-invent itself. Infrastructure-led exploration has moved front-and-centre through the downturn, while operators have struggled to commercialise larger finds. Operators that treat exploration and appraisal more like an extension of development than a separate initiative have sanctioned the most projects, but fall behind in terms of sanctioned reserves. Why have larger fields taken a back seat and how can operators move these high-impact projects forward? We review the fields that have been commercialised over the past two years and the fields that have stalled. We benchmark the region's top five drillers and outline what we expect in the next two years.