Why a shortage of investment opportunities is upstream's biggest challenge
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Report summary
Table of contents
- Executive summary
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The investment downturn is over but how strong is the recovery?
- The near-term investment outlook is mostly good news
- but the longer term is more fragile, especially outside the US
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Upstream’s structural investment challenge
- Industry focus on returns means only the best projects have moved ahead
- Improved returns have come at the expense of scale
- The number of project sanctions is rebounding, for now
- The pipeline of pre-FID projects needs to get bigger and better
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How the outlook could change: the drill bit, oil prices and tech will be key
- Exploration is an investment x-factor. Can leaner explorers deliver scale and value?
- Ultimate potential of US tight oil is a key swing factor
- Investment upside in reserves growth will be material, but is hard to predict
- Rising demand should push up prices and stimulate spending
- Conclusions
- Appendix: Investment categories
Tables and charts
This report includes the following images and tables:
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Key investment risksGlobal upstream investment risked*
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Pre-FID fields – resources sanctioned per yearGlobal upstream investment scenarios
What's included
This report contains:
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