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Oslo -The continued fall of oil prices could lead to the postponement of $150bn worth of projects in the sector worldwide, a Norwegian consulting firm said on Friday.
"Everything will depend on what oil companies decide to do, but if they don't exploit the fields which break even with the barrel above $80, $150bn will go down the drain," said Per Magnus Nysveen, a chief analyst at Rystad Energy.
Brent crude on Friday fell close to $69 a barrel in London, a drop of 40% from June.
Falling oil prices combined with high production costs in the sector force oil companies to postpone or even cancel developments of oil finds to maintain their cash flow.
Barrel prices
Norway's energy giant Statoil, for example, has delayed decisions on its Johan Castberg project, a massive off-shore oil field in the Arctic with an estimated 400 to 600 million barrels in which operations are expected to be costly.
"Anything with high costs will be vulnerable: the Arctic, oil sands and small deep-water projects," Nysveen said.
"All countries will suffer. Russia will suffer because of the Arctic. Canada and Alaska will suffer ... whereas US shale oil has become less expensive to produce and should therefore not suffer that much."
Rystad Energy refuses to publish its estimates on the future evolution of barrel prices but, according to Nysveen, there are no signs of a pick-up in the near future.
