Discoveries in frontier provinces like the Arctic are especially vulnerable to becoming stranded

Opinion

Arctic Russia Brazil Venezuela Saudi Arabia

5 October 2021

Giant oil and gas discoveries may prove irrelevant

The energy transition is increasing the risk of huge discoveries becoming stranded indefinitely

The size of large new oil and gas discoveries may not be enough to guarantee development and production. The window of opportunity for such discoveries may be over, not because their underlying resource base is insufficient, but because they may not be able to be produced before the twilight of the oil age renders them uneconomic. Under normal circumstances, when discoveries involving billion barrel of oil equivalent recoverable volumes are announced, the oil and gas industry sits up and takes notice. These could indicate the birth of a new world-class oil play. However, giant discoveries, such as the Pobeda field in the Russian Arctic and the recent Kara Sea discovery by Russian oil firm

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