Oil and gas fields take 15 years to come online now: Report
Report by Global Oil and Gas Extraction Tracker says it took less than five years for fields to come online between 1960 and 1980, when the majority of the world’s current top producing fields were discovered
- Mar 3, 2026,
- Updated Mar 3, 2026 5:55 PM IST
With rising oil demand globally, a new report finds that new conventional fields take over 15 years to come online from discovery, following a trend of increasing development timelines.
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Analysis of the Global Oil and Gas Extraction Tracker (GOGET), an information resource on gas oil extraction project, attributed extended timings to new projects being more complex in myriad ways—geologically, ecologically, economically, politically, and often a combination of those factors.
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“Fifteen-year development cycles mean companies are making long-dated bets on a very uncertain future. At a time when carbon majors face tighter margins and oil prices slump, chasing expensive white elephants seems destined to fail,” said Scott Zimmerman, GOGET project manager and co-author of the report.
He said spending should be directed towards demand reduction and renewable energy, which have the potential to bring in genuine energy security.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), easier and more accessible fields have been “thoroughly mapped and developed, leaving primarily smaller, deeper and more technically challenging fields.”
This complexity has led to the increase in time from when a discovery is announced to the first hydrocarbons being sold on the market.
The period between 1960 and 1980 is considered the peak of oil and gas discovery and exploration. Many of today’s biggest producers were discovered and came online in those 20 years.
According to GOGET, from 1960 to 1980, fields began production an average of 4.9 years after discovery. Between 2000 and 2009, they took 13 years. Between 2010 and 2020, they took nearly 16 years, and in the first half of the 2020s, the average was 15 years. The trend holds true for 2025, when fields averaged 15.1 years.
The prolonged timelines reflect a shift toward deeper, higher-pressure and more technically-complex reservoirs. Offshore developments take roughly three years longer than onshore projects.
With rising oil demand globally, a new report finds that new conventional fields take over 15 years to come online from discovery, following a trend of increasing development timelines.
Also read: Beyond Strait of Hormuz: How China-Iran rail system countered US threat
Analysis of the Global Oil and Gas Extraction Tracker (GOGET), an information resource on gas oil extraction project, attributed extended timings to new projects being more complex in myriad ways—geologically, ecologically, economically, politically, and often a combination of those factors.
Also read: Not China or India, this Asian country faces the highest risk from Hormuz closure
“Fifteen-year development cycles mean companies are making long-dated bets on a very uncertain future. At a time when carbon majors face tighter margins and oil prices slump, chasing expensive white elephants seems destined to fail,” said Scott Zimmerman, GOGET project manager and co-author of the report.
He said spending should be directed towards demand reduction and renewable energy, which have the potential to bring in genuine energy security.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), easier and more accessible fields have been “thoroughly mapped and developed, leaving primarily smaller, deeper and more technically challenging fields.”
This complexity has led to the increase in time from when a discovery is announced to the first hydrocarbons being sold on the market.
The period between 1960 and 1980 is considered the peak of oil and gas discovery and exploration. Many of today’s biggest producers were discovered and came online in those 20 years.
According to GOGET, from 1960 to 1980, fields began production an average of 4.9 years after discovery. Between 2000 and 2009, they took 13 years. Between 2010 and 2020, they took nearly 16 years, and in the first half of the 2020s, the average was 15 years. The trend holds true for 2025, when fields averaged 15.1 years.
The prolonged timelines reflect a shift toward deeper, higher-pressure and more technically-complex reservoirs. Offshore developments take roughly three years longer than onshore projects.