A time of incredible peaks and valleys

The first decade-and-a-half of the 2000s has been a time of seminal events for the world, the global upstream industry, Gulf Publishing Company and World Oil. In 2001, the first year of this final period in our 100-year review, a relative calm worldwide was shattered by the terrorist attacks against New York City and Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11, 2001. That horrific event was the opening salvo to what has now been a nearly 15-year struggle between competing ideologies, lifestyles and economic systems.

The events of Sept. 11 prompted an immediate economic downturn in the U.S. and other key industrialized countries. That downturn’s timing was not helpful to the global upstream industry, which had just returned to a healthful state after suffering through the effects of the Asian Financial Crisis from 1997 through 1999. Fortunately, the post-9/11 recession in the U.S. lasted only 50 days, thereby minimizing the damage to industry activity.

Starting with early 2002 forward, the U.S. Shale Revolution began to pick up steam in earnest. First, there was gas development in the Barnett shale of North Texas, so much so that by 2005, the play was producing nearly 500 Bcfd. Success in the Barnett inspired further gas development in a half-dozen additional shale gas plays across the country. This remarkable success was adapted to shale oil, with equally prolific development occurring in the Williston/Three Forks play of North Dakota, followed by the Eagle Ford of South Texas, Niobrara of Colorado, and several different layered shale plays in the Permian basin. So successful was shale oil development, that U.S. production rose from just 5.64 MMbpd in 2011 to 9.43 MMbpd in 2015, with a peak of 9.69 MMbpd in April 2015.

Deepwater drilling and development also hit its stride during the 15-year period. Activity was particularly strong and successful in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, offshore Brazil and West Africa. In the GOM, from January 2002 forward, operators installed 32 structures in deepwater fields, in water depths ranging from 1,186 ft to 8,300 ft. In the latter depth, Petrobras operates the Gulf’s first FPSO. Yet, this growth in deepwater activity, just like the spread of shale development, has been hampered severely by the downturn in oil prices that began in late 2014.

The 2001–2016 period also has featured significant changes at Gulf Publishing Company and World Oil. In April 2001, the company moved out of its long-time location on Allen Parkway in Houston and leased space in Greenway Plaza, where it remains today. Later that year, on Sept. 1, the SCF/Battery Ventures ownership sold the company to UK-based Euromoney Institutional Investor. This began a nearly 15-year tenure by Euromoney, which ceased at the end of April 2016, when Gulf Publishing was again sold, to a management-led buyout. 

About the Authors

Kurt Abraham

World Oil

Kurt Abraham kurt.abraham@worldoil.com