Fuel Fix  reports that “the hunt for new stores of oil and gas has been dramatically curtailed amid a global crude slump, with exploration budgets at the largest oil companies cut in half from their peak levels in 2013, according to a new analysis.”  

“Investment banking firm Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co., which tracked exploration capital spending at integrated oil companies and major exploration and production companies, forecast that spending will fall to $25 billion next year, down from the $50 billion these same companies spent three years ago.”  

“Oil companies are spending less in part because service costs have tumbled alongside oil prices, allowing explorers to spend less money to search for new reservoirs. But a vast majority of the spending cuts are related to a pullback in activity, according to the Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. analysis.”