Oil Exploration, Output Spending to Grow 13% Next Year, IFP Says

Investment in oil and natural-gas exploration and output may grow as much as 13 percent in 2013 as companies seek to add reserves and raise production from Norway to Australia, the IFP Energies Nouvelles policy group said.

Spending may climb to 723 billion euros ($944 billion) in 2013 from an estimated 640 billion euros this year, already a 13 percent jump from 2011, the Rueil-Malmaison, France-based IFP said in a report today. Since the start of this year, 146 new oil and gas discoveries have been made, it said.

The oil services business is “very strong,” IFP President Olivier Appert told reporters in Paris. Competition from companies in China and South Korea is increasing, he said.

IFP expects the market for seismic equipment to grow about 9 percent this year and studies about 15 percent. The market for onshore drilling will expand by 5 percent this year, while offshore operations will increase by 14 percent, it said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tara Patel in Paris at tpatel2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net