Gulf oil producers dust off costlier projects

The market upswing is driving investment in untapped reserves and field redevelopments previously considered commercially unviable

Oil price booms typically spur investment in reserves with challenging economics. And the current boom is proving no different, despite intensified global decarbonisation pressures. The Mideast Gulf’s leading producers, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, resumed spending on key development projects almost as soon as the recovery took hold early last year. Now with prices at eight-year highs and showing scant prospect of receding soon, the region’s smaller players are also investing anew while mothballed schemes with relatively high breakeven costs are back on the agenda. In March, state-owned QatarEnergy (QE) awarded a contract to Netherlands-based Fugro to “de-risk” the long-delayed redevelopment of