17 December 2018
Fragile oil price recovery
The upstream benefited from higher spending in 2018, thanks to higher prices; but this increase was tentative, and signs of lower prices towards year-end forced a downturn in rig counts
With spending returning on the back of stronger oil prices, 2018 saw a recovery gain traction in the global oil and gas upstream sector, with activity overall heading in an upward trajectory—though the story was mixed, with shale doing better than conventional projects. After collapsing between 2014-16 by over 40pc amid the downturn, an upstream recovery that saw 4pc growth in 2017 was in 2018 expected to accelerate to 5pc, accounting for projects worth $472bn, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its World Energy Investment report. Here, it was the US shale success story that was driving much of the growth. Capital spending in the US shale patch was expected to increase by 20pc in

Also in this section
13 February 2025
New supply from Argentina, Brazil and Guyana is rich in middle distillates, but optimism in terms of volume growth remains tempered by regulatory and technical risks as well as price volatility
12 February 2025
The oilfield expansion provides a fresh influx of revenue but will strain its cooperation with OPEC+ and fails to mask deeper issues with the economy and investors
11 February 2025
Improving compliance among the group and wider group is offset by production increases in outliers Libya, Venezuela and Iran
10 February 2025
The country wants to kickstart its upstream but first needs to persuade investors to foot the bill