Nurturing the green shoots of upstream growth
A combination of cuts to upstream capital spending and steepening well decline rates will threaten global supply security, industry leaders warn
As companies doubled down on cutting costs over the past two years, a leaner and more efficient upstream industry has started to emerge. That was one of the key messages from the Upstream session at AOGC 2017 on 8 May, which saw leading industry figures chart new routes for upstream success in a panel appropriately entitled the Green Sheets of Growth. Shaikh Nawaf al-Sabah, chief executive of Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Expansion Company, kicked off proceedings by underscoring the sheer scale of the disinvestment seen under the low-price climate. "About $1 trillion has been removed as capex from companies' development plans," he said, noting this has had an inevitable impact on exploration succ
Also in this section
9 January 2026
OPEC+ remains on track as output falls, with only Gabon failing to hit its output targets in December, although Kazakhstan’s compliance was involuntary
9 January 2026
The Latin American producer’s crude prospects rely on a multi-pronged approach where even the relatively easy wins will take considerable time, effort and cost
9 January 2026
While many forecasters are reasserting the importance of oil and gas, petrostates should be under no illusion things are changing, and faster than they might think
8 January 2026
Indonesia and Malaysia are at the dawn of breathtaking digital capabilities. Their energy infrastructure must keep up with their ambitions
