SLB production chief Sims says mature fields drive need to boost recovery from existing assets

SLB management flagged mature fields as the industry’s near-term growth lever as new discoveries become fewer and more marginal.

About 70% of global output comes from post-peak assets, rising toward 80% by 2030, with reserve replenishment near 30%.

The company said the focus is on integrated production optimization to arrest decline, cut downtime, lower unit costs and improve recovery from existing reservoirs.

Digital workflows using AI, physics-based models, automation and real-time data are intended to identify constraints earlier and speed execution across systems.

SLB cited a North Sea program that lifted intervention success rates to 90% from 65% through a holistic, connected approach.