(Oil Price) Norway saw the highest number of oil and gas discoveries in the third quarter, with six out of the 38 oil and natural gas finds made around the world, data and analytics company GlobalData said in a new report.
Second in the country ranking of discoveries came Colombia with five oil and gas discoveries between July and September, according to GlobalData.
Of the 38 discoveries globally, 21 were conventional oil, 15 discoveries were natural gas, one consisted of heavy oil, and the remaining was a coalbed methane (CBM) discovery.
Among regions, South America and Europe led with eight discoveries each, followed by Asia and Africa with five discoveries each.
Out of eight discoveries in South America, six were conventional oil, one was a conventional gas discovery, and the remaining was a heavy oil discovery. Europe had five conventional oil discoveries and three conventional gas discoveries in Q3, GlobalData said.
“In South America, Guyana-Suriname Basin and Llanos Orientales Basin had the highest number of discoveries in the quarter with three conventional oil discoveries each. In Europe, North Sea Basin had the highest number of discoveries with three conventional oil discoveries and a conventional gas discovery,” Adithya Rekha, Oil & Gas Analyst at GlobalData, said, commenting on the report’s findings.
The Guyana basin has been the home of some of the largest oil and gas discoveries so far this year, as oil majors continue to strike more oil reserves offshore the South American country.
Norway led the global discoveries not only in the third quarter, but in the first quarter of 2019, too, with five discoveries out of the global tally of 23 discoveries in Q1, GlobalData said earlier this year.
Drilling activity offshore Norway is on track to challenge all-time high levels by the end of this year, Rystad Energy said earlier this month.
“The increased activity this year relates primarily to an uptick in exploration drilling, a segment that will see around 55 wells completed,” Eivind Drabløs, an analyst on Rystad Energy’s offshore rig team, said, adding that “This brings activity levels in line with the record pace last seen in 2013 and 2015, before the effects of the oil price collapse took hold on the drilling market in Norway.”
Source: Oil Price
