Oil in the 2010s: Discoveries

With 2019 drawing to a close, a new decade is about to kick off for the oil industry. It's been a busy 10 years, with producers around the world striking gold everywhere from Latin America to West Texas. Here's a glimpse at some of the biggest finds of the decade.

2019

In 2019, producers discovered 8 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE). 1.5 billion of these barrels were discovered by Russian-owned company Gazprom off the shelf of the Yamal Peninsula in fields known as Dinkov and Nyarmeyskoye. Together, they harbour a combined 1.5 billion BOE.

2018

2018 saw producers discover 10 billion BOE around the world, with offshore discoveries representing around 82% of total volumes. Novatek drilled one of the biggest exploratory wells of the year in the North Obskoye block in the Kara Sea and was rewarded with a discovery of 960 million BOE.

2017

2017 was a lucrative year for Latin America, with the region cradling six of the top ten biggest oil well discoveries. That said, 2017 put Guyana on the oil map, with Exxon Mobil adding an additional 1 billion BOE to its inventory thanks to largescale discoveries like the Payara prospect and Turbot offshore well.

2016

2016 was a big year for the United States, with a US Geological Survey confirming around 20 billion barrels of oil were discovered in a West Texas field located in the Wolfcamp Shale area in the Permian Basin.

2015

Guyana won global headlines in 2015 when Exxon Mobil discovered more than 90 metres of premium, oil rich sandstone reservoirs of the coast of the tiny South American country. In total, the Liza-1 well houses an estimated 700 million BOE.

2013

2013 was a huge year for gas, with discoveries in Malaysia, Angola and Mozambique stealing the spotlight. Africa focused oil and gas exploration and production company Afren/Lekoil made the biggest oil discovery of the year, with 775 million BOE discovered at the Ogo offshore block in Nigeria.

2010

In October 2010 a discovery in Brazil known as the Libra exploratory well made waves with an estimated 15 billion BOE. Of course, 2010 was also the year of the notorious Deepwater Horizon spill which was a major blow for the oil and gas industry.

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