Oil industry spending expected to grow for the first time post-downturn
Analysts reckon oil firms are ready to flash the cash for the first time since mid-2014.
BMI Research said that the oil industry's capital expenditure will grow by 2.5 per cent year-on-year to $455bn (£351.80bn) in 2017. This marks the first annual growth since crude prices started plummeting just over two years ago.
It will be driven by increased investments from North American independent producers, Asian state-run oil companies and Russian firms. This will outweigh cuts from the world's biggest oil producers, such as Exxon Moil and Total.
"North America is where we’re really expecting things to turn around," Christopher Haines, BMI’s head of oil and gas research, told Bloomberg.
"We've seen a push to really reduce costs, reduce spending and take out any waste and inefficiency. These companies have gotten to the point where they're all set up to react."
However, while spending will rise by another seven per cent to 14 per cent in 2018, it will remain well below the $724bn spent in 2014, it added.