02-08-02 The release of IHS Energy Group's World Petroleum Trends Report 2002 says there were fewer significant discoveries in 2001 but an increase in the number of wildcat wells.
The report highlights and examines last year's petroleum trends and presents key oil and gas exploration and production data for the preceding decade.

The report states that 2001 was a disappointing year for both oil and gas discoveries. In the world excluding North America, the number of new field wildcat wells (NFW) completed in the year 2001 increased by 73 as compared to the year 2000.
Despite this increase, the number of oil and gas discoveries reported fell by 53, giving totals of 173 new oil discoveries and 162 new gas discoveries for 2001. Estimates of volumes of new hydrocarbon discoveries made in the year for the world less North America was almost 9 bn barrel of liquids and 42 tcf of gas.

Significantly, of the total ex-North American gas reserves discovered in 2001, 54 % were located in the Far East/Australasia. Total world production of liquids in 2001 remained flat at 26.8 bn barrel while gas production continued to increase to 94.6 tcf. 2001 was the first year since 1995 when new discoveries of gas were significantly below annual production.
For most regions of the world liquids production showed a slight decrease on 2000 but a significant upturn in Russian output along with a smaller increase in Latin American output brought total production to just over 73.3 mm bpd equal to the figure for the year 2000. Gas production rose in all regions except for Latin America and increased globally from 252 bn cfpd in 2000 to 259 bn cfpd in 2001.

In 2001, the giant discoveries (over 500 mm boe) were:
-- Io (gas) and Titanichthys (gas/condensate) both in Australia;
-- Day (gas/condensate) and Kushk (oil) both in Iran;
-- Bonga South West (oil/gas) in Nigeria;
-- Khazzan (gas) in Oman; and
-- Rakushechnoye (gas) in Russia.
During 2002, appraisal of the Buzzard field (oil) discovered in the UK in 2001 indicated that this might also be a giant field. In 2001, the first discoveries were made in Mauritania (Chinguetti, oil) and the Faroes (Marjun, oil/gas).

IHS' World Petroleum Trends also provides data on the planet's remaining reserves of oil and gas liquids (now at 1.1 tn barrel oil and gas liquids -- 41 years) and gas (6 qn cf -- 64 years), reserve replacements by new field discoveries, and a ranking of the top 15 non-OPEC producers.