Exploration

The global oil supply is tightening, and markets should move closer to balance by the end of this year, but it’s too early for “any improvement in price” to affect exploration investments because operator confidence and balance sheets still need to be repaired, Schlumberger Ltd.’s operations chief said Tuesday.

Mexico’s Energy Secretary on Tuesday approved the bidding process for a dozen onshore exploration and production areas open to international investment. The acreage contains mostly natural gas and includes nine blocks in the Burgos Basin south of the Texas border.

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.

Hess Corp. plans to spend $2.4 billion on exploration and production (E&P) in 2016, a 40% year/year cut and a 20% drop from the preliminary 2016 guidance of $2.9-3.1 billion the company provided in October.

Gastar Exploration Inc.’s first operated test in the Meramec formation within Oklahoma’s stacked reservoirs appears to extend the definition of one of the most promising plays in the U.S. onshore.

Royal Dutch Shell plc has suspended indefinitely its exploration projects offshore Alaska, but it is continuing to fight for the right to drill prospects in the future.

Statoil ASA and its partners ExxonMobil Corp., Chevron Corp., BP plc and BG plc have claimed six frontier exploration licenses in the Flemish Pass Basin offshore Newfoundland, as well as two licenses to explore for oil and natural gas offshore Nova Scotia.

Alaska may not conduct 3-D seismic exploration and drilling in the 1.5-million coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), according to a U.S. District Court ruling issued in Alaska Tuesday. It is the latest blow to the state’s long-running effort to assess the area’s resource potential.