Discoveries

Energy exploration is off to a flying start in 2019, with the majors claiming massive conventional resource discoveries in the first quarter, according to Rystad Energy.

The global oil market faces a supply shortfall of 4.5 million b/d by 2035 if exploration success — and investments — aren’t stepped up, Wood Mackenzie researchers are forecasting.

The global oil market faces a supply shortfall of 4.5 million b/d by 2035 if exploration success — and investments — aren’t stepped up, Wood Mackenzie researchers are forecasting.

Offshore activity continues to grow as development begins on a slate of recent discoveries, a sharp contrast to onshore operators, whose “attitude was rather somber,” according to analysts with Raymond James & Associates Inc., who shared their takeaways from the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) held earlier this month in Houston.

Offshore activity continues to grow as development begins on a slate of recent discoveries, a sharp contrast to onshore operators, whose “attitude was rather somber,” according to analysts with Raymond James & Associates Inc., who shared their takeaways from last week’s Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston.

“There are no scenarios that I see where anything is going to stop [the United States] from reaping the benefits of unconventional energy resources,” a Houston-based energy attorney said.

It’s too early in the game to know if the productivity power of the Utica/Point Pleasant Shale in Ohio and western Pennsylvania will match other U.S. unconventional plays, but initial natural gas well data is encouraging, and if the oil-prone window is successfully derisked, the play could prove to be a triple-play hydrocarbon monster, according to IHS Inc. researchers.

Despite an ongoing struggle to clear a blockage on its Davy Jones prospect, considered one of the biggest natural gas discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico’s shallow waters, McMoRan Exploration Co.’s exploration results “remain positive,” the New Orleans-based producer said.

Davy Jones, considered one of the biggest natural gas discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico’s shallow waters, faces several weeks of delay before commercial production begins after operator McMoRan Exploration Co. reported that a blockage has prevented a measurable flow rate in the first well.