Exploration basins of the future

Exploration has rebounded since the pandemic while also becoming more focused. Petroleum Economist looks at the basins likely to see the most upstream activity over the coming years and at developers’ investment criteria

“Upstream is back,” Bob Fryklund, chief strategist for upstream at information provider S&P Global, tells Petroleum Economist. Exploration was formerly on the wane, a situation that Fryklund describes as “scarcity in the era of abundance”, with plenty of resources that were “not being converted to production”. “Companies started focusing on fewer basins, more on what we call emerging and mature basins and less on frontier,” notes Fryklund. And that was even before the pandemic, which blocked or complicated fresh efforts, while low prices forced companies to be more disciplined with their expenditure. At the same time, the energy transition encouraged firms—in particular, the majors—to in