Future petroleum supply - exploration or development?

The presentation is titled 'Future Petroleum Supply - Exploration or Development?' and provides a general overview of the magnitude and significance of reserve growth around the world. Reserve growth is defined as the increase in successive estimates of recoverable crude oil, natural gas, and natural-gas liquids and condensates in discovered fields. Analysis of recent exploration and production data shows that petroleum (both crude oil and natural gas) volumes added to reserves by reserve growth in the world are comparable to, if not greater than, the volumes added by new-field discoveries.
This presentation describes the examination of recoverable volumes of crude oil in 186 giant oil fields (excluding those of the United States (U.S.) and Canada) reported through time from 1981 to 2003 and describes a comparison of the successive increases in these volumes (reserve growth) with recoverable volumes added from new-field discoveries. Examples from the ongoing USGS study of reserve growth in the North Sea also are shown in this presentation.