COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE DATA

Both companies tout the deal's strategic benefits for shareholder returns and carbon emissions targets.

A large consolidation movement is expected to take place among independents as the energy transition prompts companies to achieve size and scale.

Policy developments in several offshore plays—Norway, USGOM, Mexico and Nigeria—are on watch in this update to the Exploration Activity Monitor. A steady pace of drilling activity in Norway in planned, despite potential policy shifts under a likely new government seeking to curb new exploration. In the USGOM, high-profile wells such as Chevron’s Silverback prospect and BP’s Puma West discovery highlight ongoing activity, even as the federal leasing ban works through the courts. The expected spate of high-profile offshore exploration activity in Mexico has yielded successes for select firms, such as Eni and Lukoil. Yet, creeping resource nationalism policy could impact decisions to advance projects and appraisal drilling. Nigeria has finally passed its long-awaited Petroleum Bill, designed to spur new investment. But the upstream incentives may be insufficient to prompt larger existing operators to prioritize deepwater wildcats for greenfield growth. On the corporate front, we are watching the recent Woodside-BHP tie up, where portfolio merging and final investment decisions likely put planned drilling on the back burner.