Here’s one of the most important charts we might see in oil and gas this year. New this week from industry watchdog Wood Mackenzie — showing how many offshore petroleum projects will likely see final investment decisions (FIDs) during 2017. (Click to enlarge) Wood Mackenzie sees a major surge coming this year in investment decisions on offshore oil and gas projects There are a few important things to note here. First, approvals of new petroleum projects were running strong between 2007 and 2014 — with the blue bar on the left showing how FIDs during this period averaged 40 projects per year. Move to the 2015 however, and approvals for new project construction fell off a cliff. With only 8 projects getting off the ground that year. The past year wasn’t much better — with only 9 projects reaching FIDs during 2016. That drop-off was triggered by falling crude […]