Without continued investment in these fields, the world would lose the equivalent of Brazil and Norway’s combined production from the global oil balance each year
The average rate at which oil and gas fields’ output declines over time has significantly accelerated globally, largely due to higher reliance on shale and deep offshore resources, meaning that companies must work much harder than before just to maintain production at today’s levels, according to a new IEA report.
The international conversation over the future of oil and gas often focuses on demand trends while the factors affecting supply receive considerably less attention. The new IEA report, The Implications of Oil and Gas Field Decline Rates, seeks to rebalance this debate by drawing on previous groundbreaking IEA analysis on decline rates and exploring what has changed. The new analysis draws on production data from around 15 000 oil and gas fields from around the world. (....)