North Sea Capex Goes Mostly to Oil

North Sea oil and gas fields will receive capital expenditure averaging $19.5bn/year, distributed across 568 assets between 2018 and 2020, according to research by GlobalData published February 14.

Capital expenditure in the North Sea’s traditional oil projects will add up to $35.5bn over the three-year period, while heavy oil fields will require $5.1bn over the same period. Gas projects will receive $17.9bn in upstream capital expenditure by 2020.

Shallow water projects will be responsible for over 92% of the $58.5bn spend out to 2020, so $53.6bn. The more expensive deepwater projects will have just $4.9bn over the period.

GlobalData expects Norwegian Statoil to lead the North Sea spending league, with $9.8bn, as operator of the $8bn Johan Sverdrup and $2.6bn Mariner fields. Fellow Norwegian Petoro, a state holding, and UK major BP will follow with $3.5bn and $3.3bn respectively. The next largest investment will be by French Total – soon to be the owner of the operator Maersk – in Danish Tyra, a gas producing field in Central Graben Basin, at a cost of $2bn. 

Slide courtesy of GlobalData