The world will soon bounce back from this pandemic, but the recovery will be rough and painful. The current low oil price environment will also come to an end, with prices possibly spiking as demand recovers. The extent of oil and gas exploration and production is largely driven by current oil prices, future expectations of oil prices, and availability of resources. Higher oil prices generally lead to large investments in upstream operations, while lower oil prices can lead to a drastic drop in investment. Persistently lower oil prices from 2014 to 2016 led to underinvestment in upstream and fewer Final Investment Decisions for oil projects. Investments in upstream, for example, plunged from $1079 billion in 2014 to $900 billion in 2015 and then further down to $583 billion in 2016. This is because lower oil prices severely affect the revenues, cashflows, and profitability of oil and gas companies. That […]