The oil industry is tightening up on exploration projects, cuts almost a third on the Norwegian shelf

With low oil prices and declining demand, activity in oil exploration on the Norwegian shelf has fallen by 30%, according to an analysis company.

The analysis company Westwood, which conducts research and analysis in the oil and gas sector, told news agency AFP that activity in oil exploration on the British shelf in the North Sea has fallen by as much as 70% compared to activity before the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the same company, activity on the Norwegian shelf has fallen by 30%.

Large energy companies are still dependent on finding new oil fields, but big questions are being asked as to whether it is still worth it to spend money on exploration.

Pending reorientation?

“The answer seems to be that it is not, judging by the many write-downs of hydrocarbon assets in the past,” analyst Stephen Brennock in the oil brokerage house PVM noted.

He believes this will lead to a reorientation.

“Instead, oil giants will have to strengthen their portfolios in renewable energy to survive,” he added.

The American oil giant ExxonMobil has cut its activity in oil exploration by 30%, an investment cut of almost USD 10 billion (more than NOK 93 billion).

In the USA, more than 30 oil exploration and production companies have gone bankrupt this year, and the Norwegian analysis company Rystad Energy estimates that another 150 such companies may disappear by 2022.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today