Oil, gas production investments up 9pct in 2010: IEF

The amount of total capital spending made globally on oil and gas upstream projects is expected to have risen by nine per cent in 2010 after falling 15 per cent in 2009, the International Energy Forum said. Capital spending to add more upstream capacity started to improve last year after cutbacks, although “the challenge facing the industry is to continue to take the long term view and invest in the oil and gas value chain despite the many uncertainties,” the Riyadh-based forum known as IEF said in a paper posted on its website today.

The IEF is a group of nations that account for more than 90 per cent of global oil and gas supply and demand, and was established to discuss international energy security. According to International Energy Agency estimates, cumulative oil project investment required meet energy demand between 2010 and 2035 is $8.1 trillion, or $310 billion per year, with 85 per cent of this amount to be directed to the upstream. The gas sector needs $7.1trn, or $270bn per year over the period, it said.