Major Oil Companies Replace Only 75% of Output in 2015 With New Reserves

Seven of the world's leading oil producing companies replaced only 75 percent of their combined production in 2015 through the discovery of new reserves, US media reported recently after analyzing company data.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the ongoing inventory drop is the biggest the industry has seen in at least a decade.

According to corporate information, ExxonMobil replaced only 67 percent of its 2015 oil and gas output with new reserves, BP and Norway’s Statoil replaced only 61 and 55 percent correspondingly, while Shell did not find any new oil reserves in 2015. At the same time, Chevron, Eni and Total discovered more reserves last year than they extracted.

The newspaper concluded that the companies had decreased investment in oil and gas exploration, exploratory drilling and new projects due to the low prices for natural resources.

Global oil prices dropped from $115 to some $40 per barrel between June 2014 and March 2016 largely because of prolonged global oversupply and weak demand.