Why aren't NOCs closing the technology gap with IOCs? Different pressures create different drivers for NOCs

摘要

As global reserves become more challenging to exploit, it is not surprising that the importance of technology, reflected as R&D expenditure per barrels of oil equivalent produced, has increased with time. But perhaps more intriguing is the fact that by 2010 gross R&D investment of the industry's largest national oil companies (NOCs) exceeded that of the major international oil companies (IOCs) for the first time (Figure 1). This milestone is surely confirmation of the growing desire of NOCs to reduce reliance on the technologies provided by IOCs and service company partners.