IEA Projects 50% Fall in US Shale Oil/Gas Investment, Overall Energy Spending Down 20% In 2020
Spending on the U.S. shale sector could decline by half this year in comparison to 2019, with small and midsized companies hit "particularly hard." Coal, meanwhile, could see an estimated 15% investment drop this year, but ultimately get a boost as countries "fall back on familiar levers for economic development."
Those were some of the key findings in an International Energy Agency report yesterday that found the coronavirus pandemic has spurred the largest decline of global energy investment in history, slashing capital spending by nearly $400 billion compared with 2019. IEA said energy investment this year will drop by 20%, reversing previous, pre-coronavirus forecasts that suggested a 2% increase in global spending. The drop in energy spending during the first half of 2020 is "without precedent," the IEA report said, with the global oil and gas sector particularly hard hit.
Fatih Birol, IEA's executive director, said the "historic plunge" was deeply troubling and could mean lost energy supply needed as the international economy recovers. "The slowdown in spending on key clean energy technologies also risks undermining the much-needed transition to more resilient and sustainable energy systems," Birol said in a statement.
The Paris-based agency forecast a roughly 33% fall in investment across the oil and gas sector this year over 2019 and said "restrained spending" will carry over into next year. The industry is especially affected because of mobility and flight restrictions, which the report said make up approximately 60% of global oil demand.
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https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2020/05/28/stories/1063251919