Despite the strongest start for oil prices in four years, the world’s top oil companies are hesitating to accelerate the search for new resources as a determination to retain capital discipline trumps the hope of making bonanza discoveries. Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Total and their peers are set to cut spending on oil and gas exploration for a fifth year in a row in 2018, according to consultancy Wood Mackenzie (WoodMac), despite a growing urgency to replenish reserves after years of reining back investment. (For graphic ‘Global spending on oil and gas exploration’ Global investment in exploration, vital to increase output and offset the natural decline of existing fields, will reach $37 billion in 2018, down 7 percent from a year earlier and over 60 percent below the 2014 peak, according to WoodMac. For majors, spending will collectively drop by around 4 […]