BP, Eni Struggle to Replace Reserves, Bernstein Says

(Bloomberg) — BP Plc and Eni SpA are among global oil companies having difficulty replacing reserves through exploration, preferring instead to buy competitors, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. said.

In the past six years, none of the major explorers has managed to replace output by extending fields or discovering new deposits, Bernstein analysts Neil McMahon and Ben Dell said today in a report. Producers have relied on improving recovery rates and making acquisitions to maintain reserves, they said.