South America, the Middle East, and Africa are emerging as key growth drivers in global oil and gas investment for the coming 3 to 5 years, fueled by greenfield developments, exploration, and midstream infrastructure spending currently in project pipelines.
While analysts report a 15% annual growth in global oil investment since the pandemic, the rebound has merely offset previous declines, as oil-producing countries use energy resources in diverse ways to meet domestic and foreign policy goals.
The result is an overall flat investment outlook.
Among the bullish hotspots, “South America is leading the charge, growing by about 4% compounded annually, followed by the Middle East at 1.7% and Africa at 1%,” noted Rystad Energy’s Research Director MENA, Aditya Saraswat, during a recent webinar on how oil and gas companies are redefining upstream success (Fig. 1).
Brazil’s FPSO Feeding Frenzy
Brazil’s national champion Petrobras plans to invest $111 billion between 2025 and 2029 as it, along with other operators, sanction deepwater pre-salt projects that are driving record orders for FPSOs (floating, production, storage, and offloading) units, according to a 5-year budget plan approved in late 2024 by the company’s board of directors.
Given this activity, South America remains the FPSO market leader based on Brazil and Guyana newbuild demand with Petrobras and ExxonMobil’s FPSO orders accounting for 85% of regional demand, according to a Rystad FPSO analytics report published in January.
“Petrobras-operated fields accounted for 11 of these orders, while two FPSOs were destined for Equinor’s Raia and Bacalhau fields. Guyana has emerged also as significant force in the FPSO market with ExxonMobil securing four new FPSO contracts between 2020 and 2024 in its prolific operated Stabroek Block,” the Rystad report noted.
“These FPSO projects are raising the region’s oil processing capacity by 3.8 million B/D, which equates to more than 85% of Brazil’s current oil production. A dozen new FPSOs awarded since 2020 were designed to process over 200,000 B/D, with only the Liza Prosperity FPSO in Guyana currently operational,” according to the report (Fig.
