Oil and gas finds drop to 20-year low

Eagle Ford

NEW YORK, February 16, 2015 – Discoveries of new oil and gas reserves have dropped to their lowest level in at least two decades in 2014, according to previously unpublished data from IHS, the research company.

The volume of oil and gas found last year, excluding shale and other reserves onshore in North America, was the lowest since 1995, pointing to tighter world supplies as energy demand increases in the future, preliminary figures suggested.

“The number of discoveries and the size of the discoveries has been declining at quite an alarming rate. You look at supply in 2020-25, it might make the outlook more challenging,” Peter Jackson of IHS said.

New finds of oil and gas are estimated to be about 16 billion barrels of oil equivalent in 2014, according to the IHS, making it the fourth consecutive year of falling volumes. The slowdown in discoveries has been particularly pronounced for oil, suggesting production from shales in the US and elsewhere, and from OPEC, will play an increasingly important role in meeting growing global demand in the next decade.