Shale vs. Deepwater Exploration Part II: The Risks [Gaille Energy Blog Issue 62]

  • Posted by scottgaille
  • On January 17, 2018
  • 0 Comments
  • shale versus deepwater risk
Last week’s issue on Shale vs. Deepwater Returns [Issue 61] featured the below figure from Hess Corporation: Several readers questioned to what extent the figure’s economics reflected different risks, including the chance of success (during exploration) and political risk.  This week’s issue elaborates on such risks based on my own experiences.  At Oxy and several […]
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Shale vs. Deepwater Exploration Rates of Return [Gaille Energy Blog Issue 61]

  • Posted by scottgaille
  • On January 8, 2018
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  • deepwater versus shale
Last week, the Trump Administration announced that it would open new areas of the United States coast to deepwater exploration: In a striking about-face, the Interior Department announced yesterday that it wants to allow drilling in nearly all U.S. waters, the single largest expansion of offshore oil and gas leasing ever proposed by the federal […]
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Use of Independent Voting to Estimate Project Uncertainty [Gaille Energy Blog Issue 7]

  • Posted by scottgaille
  • On November 27, 2015
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  • Independent Voting, Wisdom of Crowds
The modeling of uncertainty is fundamental to board approvals of energy investments. Technical teams analyze data, seeking to estimate (i) the likelihood of hydrocarbon accumulation (or chance of success) and (ii) how much oil and gas will be produced over time – including initial production rates, decline profiles, and recoverable reserves. Companies rely on these […]
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Do-It-Yourself Exploration: In an Environment of Reduced IOC Spending, Developing Nations Should Drill Their Own Petroleum Prospects [Issue 3]

  • Posted by scottgaille
  • On October 30, 2015
  • 0 Comments
  • drilling, rigs, spending
A consistent theme of recent earnings calls has been exploration cost cutting. One company after another has touted its reductions. ConocoPhillips even announced that it was exiting deepwater exploration altogether. In parallel with these reductions is an emerging rig glut. Offshore rig utilization has fallen from more than 90% to ~79% in one year’s time, […]
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