Italian major Eni has been named the upstream industry’s most-admired explorer in Wood Mackenzie’s industry-leading annual Exploration Survey.
Director of subsurface research at Wood Mackenzie Julie Wilson said “For the record-tying fifth time in our industry-leading survey, Eni has received the illustrious recognition of being named the most-admired explorer. I would like to congratulate the company’s exploration director, Aldo Napolitano, and his global team for a well-deserved win.
“The industry continues to admire operators who can not only open new frontiers, but also find large volumes of advantaged resources. Eni’s recent efforts and discoveries have been excellent examples of both trends.”
This is the 16th Wood Mackenzie Exploration Survey, which tallies views from across the exploration sector and asks respondents to identify which explorer – aside from their own company – they most admire.
Eni has been active in the North Sea in recent months. It agreed to combine its UK North Sea assets with independent oil company Ithaca Energy, creating a “powerhouse” in the region.
This saw Eni hand over control of the assets to Ithaca, including the recently-acquired portfolio of Neptune Energy, in exchange for shares in Ithaca Energy worth £754m.
The combined Ithaca Energy and Eni will have daily production of 100,000-110,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, with ambitions of 150,000 per day by the early 2030s.
The move came hot on the heels of Eni’s $4.9bn takeover of Neptune Energy.
International discoveries
Shell received the Discovery of the Year award for Jonker and its previous finds in Namibia, in partnership with QatarEnergy and NAMCOR.
“The Jonker discovery made in 2,200 metres of water off Namibia is part of a fast-emerging play that has the entire industry very excited,” said Wilson.
“If Shell and partners are able to commercialise this project together with their other discoveries on the acreage, it will help establish an important new industry for Namibia.”
Two other awards were announced, with Galp Energies named as E&P Explorer of the Year and the NOC Explorer of the Year going to Petronas.
This is the first time that Galp Energies has been recognised as E&P Explorer of the Year in the survey.
It is another award stemming from drilling success in the active Namibian exploration sector. Galp announced its giant Mopane discovery earlier this year and hopes to move quickly towards development.
Petronas has achieved an impressive run of gas discoveries in its Malaysian heartlands. Finds completed during 2023 added cumulative resources of over 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent, which will find a ready market in the country’s well-established gas industry.
Petronas also enjoyed international exploration success in Suriname which has continued into 2024.
“The exploration industry helps meet future energy demand,” said Wilson. “These award-winning companies, as well as many others, continue to discover advantaged resources that can displace less sustainable and more costly oil and gas supply. Their development will reduce upstream emissions and support investment in clean energy alternatives through the energy transition.”