The oil industry may be ready to open its wallet after two years of slashing investments. Companies will spend 2.5% more on capital expenditure next year than they did this year, the first yearly growth in such spending since 2014, BMI Research said in a Sept. 22 report, Bloomberg reported. Spending will increase by another 7% to 14% in 2018. It will remain well below the $724 billion spent in 2014, before the worst oil crash in a generation caused firms to cut back on drilling and exploration to conserve cash, the researcher said. North American independent producers, Asian state-run oil companies and Russian firms are prepared to boost investments next year, outweighing continued cuts from global oil majors such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Total SA, BMI said, based on company guidance and own estimates. Spending will increase to a total of $455 billion next year from $444 billion this year, BMI said. BMI Research is a research firm that provides macroeconomic, industry and financial market analysis, covering 24 industries and 200 global markets.
