Morning "Flaming Moe", hehe (Simpsons gag)... Tis a multi facetted problem this one.. Finance dwindling, along with total oil returns and the cost of cleanup now looms large, where once it was never considered.

The decision to take one a program that may have 10 years life or less is a definite consideration & yes I agree the idea of identifying nd then selling to someone else MAY be the correct strategy as far as offshore goes.. Look at the total number of rigs we are talking about?

That said, the industry is gearing up for a good 2024 & yet with all the drilling planned not one says they intend to discover a well containing anywhere near as many BOE as the upper reservoir Melbana have already discovered!!

430mBOE offshore & 230mBOE onshore is all they quote and these are seasoned campaigners.. Makes the existing number Melbana quote and the potential increase look world class indeed & that's before we tag the next two reservoirs..

Make no mistake Melbana are well and truly in the global oil business now...

No wonder linebacker has increased his sentiment to how they are doing operationally... ;-) gltah H8ty

Australia's decision to end overseas fossil fuel finance will be welcomed by its climate-exposed neighbours.
Until recently, financing fossil fuel projects has been relatively easy.But that is slowly changing. At the COP28 climate negotiations yesterday, Australia announced it will sign the Glasgow Statement and will no longer finance international oil, gas and coal projects. Domestic projects are not part of the agreement.Major Australian allies such as the United States and United Kingdom, as well as 32 other nations and five public banks, made this commitment in 2021. It’s an agreement between governments and public financial agencies such as development banks and export credit agencies to end all new public financing for unabated fossil fuel projects.

By joining, Australia will make it harder to mobilise finance for fossil fuel projects that produce millions of tonnes of emissions, and make it easier to fund renewable energy projects that produce very little.It’s the latest in a welcome series of signals that the international community is slowly turning off the tap for new fossil fuels.Phasing down or phasing out?Australia’s decision to join the agreement comes amid intense negotiations at COP28 in Dubai this week over whether governments will commit to “phasing out” or “phasing down” fossil fuel use.It might sound like quibbling, but this linguistic distinction carries major implications for global climate change. Phasing out means ending the routine burning of fossil fuels entirely. Phasing down means we will keep burning them but at a reduced rate – and that means some level of fossil fuel investment will continue.



IN the Asia-Pacific region alone, nearly 2,600 platforms, 35,000 wells, 7.5 million tonnes of steel and 55,000 kilometres of pipelines will need to be decommissioned over the next decade across a region ranging from India to Papua New Guinea and China to Australia. The potential cost for this could rise above £78billion. Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia are collectively thought to have around 1,500 structures and 7,000 oil fields that will be either 30 years old or require decommissioning by 2038. In the Gulf of Thailand, Chevron is faced with 300 platforms and 6,000 wells that must be decommissioned over the next decade. India has a further 300 structures and up to 1,000 oil fields facing the same scenario. Australia expects 40 offshore fields to cease operations over the next decade.

Oil Majors Gear Up for Groundbreaking 2024 Drilling Campaigns

By Rystad Energy - Jan 30, 2024, 4:00 PM CST

• Rystad Energy has identified 36 potential high-impact wells for 2024, a significant increase from 27 in 2023.
• Africa and Latin America are expected to account for nearly 64% of these wells, with a focus on frontier and emerging basins.
• Despite 2023's low success rate and rising drilling costs, the industry remains optimistic, with major oil companies and national oil companies planning significant drilling activities.

The upstream industry hopes 2024 can be a bounce-back year for high-impact oil and gas drilling after a lackluster 2023, with Africa and Latin America likely to spearhead activities. Rystad Energy has identified 36 potential high-impact wells to be drilled or spud in 2024, the highest annual total since we started tracking the market in 2015. This would be a sizeable jump from the 27 high-impact wells drilled last year, and operators will hope for a better success rate.

Of these 36 potentially significant wells, 13 are in Africa and 10 in Latin America, accounting for almost 64% of the global total. Explorers will drill six of these in Asia, two each in the Middle East, Europe and North America and one in Oceania, with TotalEnergies’ planned exploration in Papua New Guinea.

Only eight of the 27 high-impact wells drilled in 2023 resulted in commercially movable volumes, a success rate of less than 30%, well below the annual average of 42%. These wells discovered volumes of 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe), a sharp decline from the 3.5 billion boe found in 2022. These high-impact wells accounted for 20% of the 5 billion boe discovered by all exploration activities globally last year. To make matters worse, 2023 was an expensive year, with drilling costs rising due to a significantly tighter rig market than in prior years, worsening the blow of a low success rate.

Rystad Energy classifies high-impact wells through a combination of factors, including the size of the prospect, whether they would unlock new hydrocarbon resources in frontier areas or emerging basins and their significance to an operator’s strategy.

Of the high-impact wells planned this year, 14 will be drilled in frontier and emerging basins, with three opening up new plays entirely. So, despite a disappointing 2023, many operators continue exploring new plays and focusing on frontier regions. Eight planned high-impact wells target prospective offshore resources of more than 430 million boe and considerable prospective onshore resources of more than 230 million boe. The remaining 11 wells are strategically relevant for their respective operators, meaning exploration success would help them gain traction in the region or inform future operational decisions. If all planned wells proceed as scheduled, 2024 would see the highest number of high-impact wells drilled in at least 10 years, since we started tracking these wells in 2015.

The oil and gas majors – BP, Chevron, Eni, ExxonMobil, Shell and TotalEnergies – typically dominate high-impact well drilling, which will continue in 2024. About 16 (44%) of the total wells planned will be drilled by these companies, with TotalEnergies planning five, Shell three, and Chevron, Eni and ExxonMobil targeting two each. Most drilling will be undertaken in the Atlantic margin and Asian waters. National oil companies (NOCs) and internationally focused NOCs (INOCs) will account for eight (22%) of this year’s planned wells, with upstream operators responsible for 17% and smaller operators for the remainder.

Around 70% of African wells will be drilled in frontier and emerging basins or will open new plays. Important frontier wells include in the Red Sea offshore Egypt, in the Angoche Basin offshore Mozambique and in the Namibe Basin offshore Angola.

High-impact drilling in the Americas will be primarily focused on Latin America and dominated by wells that hold significance for each operator’s long-term goals rather than frontier basins. Only two of the 12 wells planned in the Americas are in North America, with one each in the US and Canada. In Latin America, a frontier well planned for offshore Argentina would be the first drilled well in the Argentine Basin. ExxonMobil also plans to drill a frontier well in the Orphan Basin offshore Canada.