Global energy investment dropped by 8% in 2015 to US$1,830bn, according to IEA, driven by cuts in the upstream oil and gas sector (-25%), although they still represent some US$583bn, i.e. 32% of global energy investments. Most of the investment reduction came from North American shale and other high-development costs areas such as offshore sectors. Middle East and Russia represent the most resilient regions. Conversely to the oil and gas upstream industry, investment in LNG liquefaction terminals surged over the past two years at around US$35bn per year.
The oil and gas industry as a whole represented 55% of the global investment, electricity 23% (US$420bn), with renewable energy sources accounting for 16% (US$288bn), coal-fired power generation for 4% (US$78bn) and gas-fired power generation for less than 2% (US$31bn).
Renewable energy investments of US$ 313bn accounted for nearly a fifth of total energy spending last year, establishing renewables as the largest source of power investment.
Geographically speaking, China ranks first with US$315bn invested in the energy sector in 2015, ahead of the United States with US$280bn that used to lead the race but that have seen declining investments in oil and gas exploration due the sharp drop in oil prices. China was the largest destination of renewables-based power capacity investment (5%, USD90bn) or over 60% of its total investment in generation with wind overtaking hydropower as the main renewable energy source.
For 2016, the IEA foresees upstream oil and gas investments to shrunk again by around 24%, while they should be stable in 2017 or slightly declining.