Iran Oil Power Declining as Explorers Increase Spending: Energy
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The Iran-driven run in oil prices to the highest since 2008 masks the Middle East producer’s diminishing importance to global oil supplies as record spending on drilling unearths reserves from Argentina to Angola.
New fields will ease pressure on prices, according to the Centre for Global Energy Studies. Futures show investors expect benchmark Brent crude to drop to less than $100 a barrel in 2015 from $125 today. Global exploration spending, led by Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, will jump 20 percent this year to at least $90 billion, Barclays Plc research shows.