Louisiana is among the top 10 most attractive places in the world to invest in global oil and gas, according the the Fraser Institute’s Global Petroleum Survey.
Louisiana came in at No. 10 worldwide. Texas topped the list, followed by Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming, North Dakota, Alabama, Montana, the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and the U.K.-North Sea.
The 12th annual survey by the Canadian-based research firm quizzed 256 petroleum industry executives and managers regarding barriers to investment in oil and gas exploration and production around the globe. Responses were tallied to rank provinces, states, countries and other geographical regions (such as offshore areas), according to the extent of such barriers.
“The United States remains the most attractive region for investment globally, followed by Europe,” authors Ashley Stedman and Kenneth P. Green wrote. “Canada’s score declined this year, causing this region to drop one spot to the fourth most attractive region in the world for investment.”
There was enough data from the survey to evaluate 80 jurisdictions that hold 53% of proved global oil and gas reserves and account for 68% of global oil and gas production.
The jurisdictions that are evaluated are assigned scores on each of 16 questions pertaining to factors that are known to affect investment decisions. The scores then are used to generate a Policy Perception Index for each jurisdiction that reflects the perceived extent of the barriers to investment.
The jurisdictions are then sorted into clusters, based on the size of their proved reserves, which allows for an apples-to-apples comparison of the respondents’ policy perceptions of the resources that are available for commercialization. Louisiana ranked No. 6 among medium reserve holders, after Oklahoma, Wyoming, North Dakota, the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and the U.K.-North Sea. The state’s policy perception score.
