The oil industry has been working hard to find new oil reserves, and so far this year the efforts have been paying off.It has been a year with some major discoveries that have put the oil industry in a good position to make it the year with the highest level of new discoveries since 2000.
A big reason for the increase in discoveries is improvements in technology that has allowed oil hunters to drill deeper and break through tougher rocks than they were previously able to do.
Major discoveries have been reported in areas of the world such as Iraq, Australia, Israel, Iran, and Russia to name a few.
A huge discovery was found earlier this month when BP PLC (NYSE: BP) reported that it had found a massive deep-water field that may be the biggest oil find ever in the Gulf of Mexico.
During the first half of the year, oil companies already had reported discovering 10 billion barrels of new oil.
This year's finds have been great for oil companies, but many wonder if falling prices could jeopardize further exploration. Most executives agree that in order to maintain exploration they need oil prices to remain above $60 a barrel.
Currently, oil is trading at $68.58, but if the economy is not able to rebound as fast as many would like, prices could definitely fall through the $60 mark pretty fast. We must remember it was only this past December when prices fell as low as $34 a barrel.
The most impressive finds of the year, belonging to BP brings excitement back into the Gulf of Mexico and is estimated to hold between 4 and 6 billion barrels of oil and gas. Should that estimate hold true, that is enough to meet domestic consumption for over a year.
Will Rich Ross really have a positive impact on Disney's movie operations?
Consumers sick of recession, may spend extra on holidays
Corrections, seasonality and Santa Claus
Add your comments