Offshore oil majors could shave nearly a third off their exploration and development costs by simply agreeing to industry-wide equipment standards, according to an industry association executive. Rather than having big companies continue to go their own, expensive ways in ordering drilling gear tailored for their individual needs, oil majors could take a leaf out of the U.S. shale oil industry’s book, said Allen Leatt, chief executive of the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA). U.S. shale oil drillers, whose rise was partly responsible for crashing crude prices in 2014, have halved their cost base to around $30-40 a barrel, thanks in part to standardization of drilling equipment. With an OPEC oil output cut about to kick in and prices rising, shale oil producers are now poised for profitable growth. “Oil companies could take out 30 percent of the cost using standardized specifications and ruthlessly pragmatic engineering,” the ICMA’s Leatt […]