Nikkei warns of serious decline in new oil fields

The number of newly discovered oil and gas fields in the world in 2025 fell to the lowest level in 45 years, due in part to a strong decline in exploration investment. It's from sb.by.

According to TASS, the Japanese newspaper Nikkei, based on a synthesis of world statistics, indicated that only 19 industrial-scale fields were discovered in 2025, which was the lowest number since 1980 and less than 10% of the peak level in 2013.

The publication associates the decrease in investments in the exploration of new fields, including with the transfer of efforts of leading oil and gas corporations to the development of new energy sources. According to Nikkei, British Shell’s spending in this area in 2025 fell to $ 1.1 billion, which is only one fifth of the figure a decade ago. Overall, global investment in new fields has decreased by almost 40% over 10 years.

Affects the reduction of promising areas of exploration on land. Now the search for new deposits is increasingly necessary to conduct on the continental shelf or even further on the seabed, which leads to a significant increase in costs. The price of Brent crude oil for the first time since September 9 fell below $ 100 per barrel