"Following two decades of depressed global searching for oil and gas, frontier exploration is bouncing back. The industry's biggest producers had cut spending on costly global efforts as they leaned into West Texas' Permian Basin and the rest of the onshore U.S., as well as proven offshore basins, including the Gulf of Mexico."
"For context, that decision proved to be wise: The shale boom-with its horizontal drilling coupled with hydraulic fracturing, or fracking-turned the U.S. from a country that pumped out 5 million barrels of oil a day 20 years ago into a world-leading powerhouse churning out almost 14 million barrels daily and even exporting nearly 5 million barrels."
""Given recent drilling success and diminished concerns over peak [oil] demand, the industry is reprioritizing exploration, a dynamic that should drive resource capture to relatively high levels over the next five years," Rutty said. He added that there remains a risk of a global oil shortfall later this decade as demand continues to rise in the short term."
Major oil companies are ramping up global exploration outside the Americas as the U.S. shale boom matures and domestic production shows signs of plateauing. Two decades of reduced frontier searching gave way to concentrated investment in the Permian Basin and proven offshore basins, lowering global exploration spending. The rapid U.S. shale expansion transformed U.S. output from roughly 5 million to nearly 14 million barrels per day and enabled significant exports. With drilling success and eased fears about peak demand, industry priorities are shifting back toward exploration, though risks of a mid-decade supply shortfall remain.
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