Global spending on oil and natural gas exploration is set to fall next year to the lowest level in 12 years as the industry cuts costs and shuns more expensive areas such as the Arctic, according to Wood Mackenzie Ltd.
Companies will allocate $37 billion to exploration and appraisal in 2017, the lowest level since 2005, the consultants said, with spending starting to recover the following year. More than half the volume of oil and gas discovered in 2017 will come from deep water exploration, it said.
