1999 was the best year for uncovering new oil and gas supplies since 1991, according to IHS Energy Group. Iran's huge Azedegan find, containing between 5- and 6 billion barrels of recoverable oil, topped the list of the world's largest discoveries. That year, Iran found its enormous South Pars accumulation, a 436-trillion-cubic-foot behemoth. More surprisingly, the sterling 1999 results were obtained with drastically reduced drilling levels. Last year's new-field wildcat drilling outside North America slumped 30% from 1998, and 40% from 1997. Drilling efforts did not necessarily coincide with results, however. Of the 10 most active countries in numbers of wildcats drilled, only two were in the top 10 in terms of the amount of oil discovered, says IHS. The U.K., ranked sixth in the world in wildcat drilling, was only 28th in terms of the amount of oil discovered. Likewise, Australia ranked 20th in discoveries, although it is the most active exploration environment outside North America. The 1999 results continued a trend of the last decade, showing widely distributed gas finds versus a concentration of new oil fields in a handful of nations. Of the 95 countries in which oil was found during the decade, more than 50% was harbored in 10 countries. The heavyweights have been both established petroleum provinces such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, and new deepwater players such as Brazil and Angola. -Peggy Williams
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