Big oil’s expensive black gold quest

One study says oil company spending is having little impact on boosting supplies, but firms continue to hunt.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Soaring crude prices may have prompted oil companies to venture into ever hostile terrain to bring supplies to market, yet by one account all the spending may merely serve to hold production levels constant.

According to a recent report from oil and gas consultancies John. S. Herald and Harrison Lovergrove & Co., investment in “upsteam” activities, which incude exploration and production, jumped 31 percent from 2004 to 2005.

Yet the study, based on data provided by publicly traded oil and gas companies worldwide, said production volumes grew just 1 percent, and proven reserves in the ground remained essentially unchanged.

“The industry continued to labor to grow production and reserves,” Arthur Smith, chairman of John S. Herald, said in the report. “The potential for stormy seas looms.”

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