“If nothing happens to the cost structure, I think we’ll see stranded projects and mothballed projects over the next years,” Maersk Oil chief executive Jakob Thomasen said in a panel discussion at IHS CeraWeek in Houston.
With most “easy oil” already discovered, reservoirs and exploration environments are getting increasingly complex, and costs are rising in concert.
Lars Christian Bacher, Statoil’s executive vice president of development and production, said project costs for the Norwegian giant have risen by 131% since 2008.
