Analysts from Wood Mackenzie said the decrease in oil prices that started in the summer of 2014 has led to cancellation of a total of 46 large-scale oil and gas projects involving the equivalent of 20 billion barrels of oil.
The United Kingdom’s BP, the United States’ Chevron, Norway’s Statoil and Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell featured on list of companies that put off ambitious oil projects.
Wood Mackenzie named Canada as the region hardest hit by the postponed projects, where an initiative to explore of about 5.6 billion barrels of reserves, almost all oil sand, was cancelled.
In the second half of 2014 global oil prices decreased more than twofold, dropping from $100 to $45 per barrel of Brent. A November decision by OPEC states not to lower their oil extraction quota accentuated the trend. In 2015, Brent prices reached a peak of $69.58 per barrel early in May before decreasing once again to below $55 in July.
