Page 28: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Nov/Dec 2023)

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MARKETS GLOBAL EXPLORATION OUTLOOK

BP’s Arkenstone in Norway show there remains material seeking to satisfy Colombia’s hungry domestic market potential outside mature plays, with combined pre-drill with its deepwater Orca Norte well in the Caribbean Sea. volumes in these prospects totalling >1 bnboe. It’s a simi- lar story in the US Gulf of Mexico, where planned wells

It’s not just the Majors chasing big targets such as Hess’ Corvus-1 and Chevron’s Vancouver-1 are

The Majors will continue to account for a signifcant both targeting >100 MMboe.

share of global exploration investment, operating around 30% of wells. The peer group will drill the majority of

Gas is the Target in Select Regions high-impact wells, but with a strong regional focus. All

The world wants gas, and the deep waters of the East- but one (Argentina) of Equinor’s wells are in Norway. ern Mediterranean will see continued exploration. One ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies are focussed on the ex- well to watch is Eni’s 7 Tcf Orion well in Egypt currently ploration hotspots of Guyana and Sub-Saharan Africa, drilling ahead with results expected in Q1. The demand respectively. Shell will be the most active in 2024, chasing for gas that can be delivered into domestic and regional targets in Malaysia and Oman. Eni and bp, the latter with markets (in this case Europe) is a big driver of activity. minimal operated drilling planned in 2024, are largely

Similarly, growing gas demand in Indonesia, both locally concentrating efforts in the Eastern Mediterranean.

and to meet export needs, combined with material un- However, the independents are also set to drill impor- developed reserves, means this is a key exploration fo- tant and potentially needle moving (in the success case) cus, particularly offshore in the North Sumatra Basin. wells. Galp and Woodside (Orange Basin, Namibia),

Harbour Energy’s Halwa and Gayo wells are two such Harbour Energy (North Sumatra, Indonesia) and Aker examples. And over in South America, Ecopetrol is also BP (Norway) are three such examples.

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