Higher oil prices and increased efficiency have made companies more optimistic that they could spend more on exploration on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) this year than they did in the previous two years of stubbornly low oil prices. Oil firms have boosted exploration spending more than expected, and so far in 2018 they have had more success in discoveries than in the years of the oil price slump. Actually, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), companies are on track to find nearly 1 billion barrels of oil equivalents this year. These calculations show that the resources found per well could reach their highest since 2010—the year in which the giant Johan Sverdrup oil field was discovered in the North Sea with resources estimated at between 2.1 billion and 3.1 billion barrels of oil equivalents. Johan Sverdrup—with production start planned for late […]