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Paris / WAM
After two years of unprecedented decline, global upstream oil and gas investment is expected to stabilise in 2017, according to a report issued by the International Energy Agency, (IEA).
However, an upswing in US shale spending contrasts with stagnation in the rest of the world, signalling a two-speed oil market. At the same time, the oil and gas industry overall is transforming itself by delivering large cost savings and focussing more on technology development and efficient project execution.
Global energy investment amounted to $ 1.7 trillion in 2016, or 2.2% of global GDP. For the first time, spending on the electricity sector around the world exceeded the combined spending on oil, gas and coal supply. The share of clean-energy spending reached 43 percent of total supply investment a record high.
China, the world’s largest energy investor, saw a 25 percent decline in coal-fired power investment last year and is increasingly driven by clean electricity generation and networks, as well as energy-efficiency investment.