Is the oil and gas industry about to bet big on exploration again? The short answer is no. But the increase in oil prices and a strengthening of balance sheets among the majors might lead to an uptick in exploratory activity this year, especially in deep-water and frontier zones. Before the downturn, the majors were each spending several billion dollars per year on exploration activity. In 2013 Royal Dutch Shell's exploration budget was about $7 billion, while Total and BP were not far behind on $5.8 billion and $4.8 billion respectively, according to figures compiled by Energy Intelligence's Research & Advisory service. Even Norway's Statoil, a relative minnow in such company, spent more than $5 billion on exploration five years ago.
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