Global energy groups are under unprecedented pressure to run down their fossil fuel operations. The world’s most influential energy body has said no more exploration is needed to meet future demand. But “supermajors” are still hunting for undiscovered oil and gas in remote regions.
Shell drilled its first well in Namibia last month in partnership with state-owned Qatar Petroleum, sinking a shaft hundreds of kilometres offshore beneath 2,500 metres of water. On the opposite side of the continent a few weeks later, Italy’s Eni drilled the first well offshore Kenya in almost eight years.
Since the oil price collapse at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the supermajors have slashed exploration budgets just as the pressure on oil companies to cut production of hydrocarbons has increased.