Major oil companies are struggling to access resources being jealously guarded by national companies with whom they are forced to establish partnerships.
As paradoxical as it may seem, high oil prices do not mean a golden age for the likes of ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total or BP.
While they are seeing large profits, with a barrel of oil at more than $US140, the future is uncertain.
The problem is access to reserves. The major oil companies now control less than 10 per cent of world resources of gas and oil, against 70 per cent in the 1970s, according to figures issued by Ernst and Young at the World Petroleum Congress in Madrid. As a result, they are being forced to explore in increasingly extreme conditions.
''Oil in deep water or in regions that are difficult to access [such the Arctic] are what are left for international companies,'' the head of French group Total, Christophe de Margerie, said.
The majors are also competing with the national oil companies, which are making inroads elsewhere.
Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries president Chekib Khelil said, ''National hydrocarbon companies are no longer confined to within their borders,'' citing China's Sinoc and CNPC, Malaysia's Petronas and Algeria's Sonatrach. AFP