s+b Trend Watch: Big Oil Loses Its Exploration Edge
The six integrated “supermajor” oil companies that once dominated oil and gas exploration are losing ground to independent companies.
The six integrated “supermajor” oil companies that once dominated oil and gas exploration are losing ground to independent companies. Since 2000, smaller competitors have been increasingly active in finding and developing new fields: In 2010 and 2011, they made an estimated two-thirds of the significant private-sector discoveries.
Significant Private-Sector Oil and Gas Discoveries, 2010–11
Source: Christopher Click, Douwe Tideman, Otto Waterlander, and David Branson, “Rediscovering the Art of Exploration: Practical Steps to Establishing a High-Performance Exploration Organization,” Booz & Company, 2013
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