Reason #48 Why I Love To Blog -- February 1, 2019

Talk about serendipity? Is that the best word? Coincidence? Prescient? Whatever.

But this is why I love to blog.

Early in the day yesterday I gave a shout-out to Exxon -- how it seemed to keep to its knitting -- making few missteps despite a really tough environment.

Now this, just a few hours later, from Rigzone: ExxonMobil named top oil, gas explorer of 2018 by Rystad Energy.

The designation was given to the U.S. supermajor based on three performance measurements: the number of exploration wells, net discovered resources and the value creation from wildcat exploration during 2018.

Fueled by substantial investments in Guyana, ExxonMobil tops the list. In 2018, the company drilled 2.7 net wildcat wells in Guyana and discovered almost 2 billion barrels in additional gross resources in the Stabroek block.

Hess Corporation and CNOOC – both partners in ExxonMobil’s Stabroek block – ranked at second and third, respectively, in terms of value creation in 2018. Rystad maintains that they also benefited from Guyana’s success.

Total S.A. came in as the second-best oil major, having created about $2.2 billion in valuation from 2018 exploration.

UK-based Savannah Petroleum held the highest value creation per barrel of oil equivalent in 2018, thanks to its work in Africa. Rystad believes the resources discovered in Niger Block R3/R4 have a net present value of more than $10 per barrel of oil equivalent.