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‘’2017 E&P Spend To Rise For First Time In Three Years’’

Following a couple of years of reduced exploration and production (E&P) investments, spending by global oil and gas companies is expected to increase by 7 percent in 2017, for the first rise in three years, according to a Barclays survey of 215 global oil and gas companies.

“With OPEC putting a floor on oil prices, operators have greater confidence to drill and complete, although the early stages of the recovery will be uneven,” Reuters quoted a Barclays report as saying.

North America’s oil firms will lead the recovery in spending with an expected 27-percent increase, according to Barclays, which carried out the survey when oil prices were trading around US$55 per barrel for Brent and at around US$50 per barrel for WTI.

Still, production is seen dropping on the back of higher service costs that are expected to offset the increased-budgets effects, according to Barclays.

Offshore E&P spending would still suffer, with spending seen down by 20-25 percent this year, versus an expected drop of 34 percent for last year.

According to a Wood Mackenzie report from December 2016, oil and gas exploration investment will slump further in 2017, to $37 billion, which would be the lowest exploration investment level since at least 2009. To compare, in 2014 exploration investment hit $100 billion.

Related: U.S. To Sell First 8 Million Barrels From Strategic Reserves

In 2018, however, things will start recovering, Wood Mac said, and by the following year, investments in exploration should reach about $50 billion, growing further still in 2020 to $60 billion.

In the global corporate outlook for 2017, Wood Mackenzie expects that the oil and gas industry will turn cashflow positive for the first time since the downturn should OPEC production cuts push oil prices above US$55.

Assessing this year’s prospects for oil majors, independents, and national oil companies (NOCs), WoodMac has singled out five trends to look for in 2017: strengthening finances will be a top priority; U.S. Independents will lead the sector into a new investment cycle; portfolios will adapt; production will rise modestly despite past capital expenditure cuts; and there will be improved value proposition for exploration and mergers and acquisitions.

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By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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