According to the latest Rystad Energy energy analysis about the 2018 conventional discovered resources they are approximately 30% more than in 2017, with Guyana topping the list of countries in terms of total discovered resources during H1 2018 while Cyprus is also one of the listed states.

The company’s data showed that global discoveries of conventional oil and natural gas are seeing an exciting recovery with discovered resources already surpassing 4.5 billion boe in H1 2018.

Rystad said that during H1 2018, Guyana led the top five countries in terms of total discovered resources added followed by the United States, Cyprus, Oman and Norway. These five countries hold three-fourths of the total resources discovered this year. The discoveries in Guyana, the United States and Cyprus are located in ultra-deepwater and are 100% owned by oil majors, indicating indicates that oil majors have started to re-focus on deepwater exploration.

The biggest offshore discovery to date this year is believed to be the Eni-operated Calypso gas find offshore Cyprus, while the largest onshore discovery, a gas-condensate find, was reported on the Mabrouk North East prospect, operated by Petroleum Development Oman.

Regarding Cyprus in particular, the analysis read that the country marked its entry in the list owing to Eni’s promising gas discovery at Calypso 1 NFW ultra-deepwater well in Block 6. The discovery well encountered an extended gas column in rocks of Miocene and Cretaceous age, confirming the extension of “Zohr-like” play in the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

The Head of Upstream Research at Rystad Energy, Espen Erlingsen noted that “An uptick of 30% from the abnormally low levels in 2017 might seem encouraging, but E&P players are currently facing a low reserve replacement ratio, on average of less than 10%. This is worrisome considering the impact on global oil supply in long term.”

Although 2017 did not offer much hope and did not prove as profitable as expected, Rystad says that the discovery trend is expected to continue in H2 2018 backed by ongoing exploration in emerging offshore provinces and many promising high-impact wells targeting potential resources in the millions.

Rystad Energy is an independent energy research and business intelligence company providing data, tools, analytics and consultancy services to clients exposed to the energy industry across the globe.

Source: balkaneu