Investment growth in oil and natural-gas exploration and output will slow this year as major international energy companies lower spending, according to the policy group. Overall investment will rise by about 5 percent this year to $733 billion compared with increases of 11 percent in each of the two previous years, the Rueil-Malmaison, France-based group said in a report published today. Spending is seen climbing 4 percent in 2015 with a “strong” drop by as much as a fifth in Europe and no increase in Australia, it said. Major such as and will lower investment by 8 percent as a whole this year while national oil companies and independents will raise it by 10 percent and 7.5 percent respectively, according to IFP. The biggest growth will be in the Middle East and . Since the start of this year, 150 new oil and gas discoveries have been made compared […]