KEY POINTS
- Chevron plans 20 exploration wells in 2027.
- Exploration spending is expected to exceed $1.5bn this year.
- AI is being used to analyse seismic data and identify prospects.
Chevron plans to sharply increase its oil and gas exploration activity next year as it overhauls its exploration strategy and seeks to improve its record of finding new reserves.
The US energy major is preparing to drill about 20 exploration wells in 2027, alongside five or six appraisal wells, according to Kevin McLachlan, who was recruited from TotalEnergies last year to lead Chevron’s exploration division.
The planned drilling programme represents a significant increase from the 10 exploration wells Chevron drilled two years ago and comes with a more than 50% increase in McLachlan’s exploration budget compared with 2025.
McLachlan said the additional funding would allow Chevron to increase spending on seismic data, which is critical to identifying and evaluating potential oil and gas prospects.
Chevron’s total exploration spending, including unconventional activities such as shale, is expected to exceed $1.5 billion this year, up from just under $1 billion in 2025.
The company has also expanded its exploration footprint, securing blocks in Brazil, Egypt, Guinea-Bissau, the Gulf of Mexico, Namibia, Peru and Suriname.
Chevron’s total exploration acreage has doubled since 2024 as the company increases its exposure to international oil and gas opportunities.
The move marks a shift after years of relatively conservative exploration activity, during which Chevron focused heavily on lower-risk drilling and expansion of its US shale operations.
Company targets frontier markets
Chevron is now putting greater emphasis on frontier exploration areas across South America, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Namibia, Guyana, Guinea-Bissau and Egypt are among the locations receiving increased attention, although McLachlan said the company is not relying on a single potential discovery.
Instead, Chevron wants to build a broader portfolio of exploration prospects and use a combination of geological data, technology and drilling activity to improve its chances of making commercial discoveries.
Andrew Latham, senior vice-president of energy research at Wood Mackenzie, said Chevron had underperformed some of its peers in high-impact exploration after concentrating heavily on the Permian Basin.
He said the maturity of the US shale basin was helping bring international exploration back onto Chevron’s agenda. Chevron’s renewed exploration push follows a period of weaker results.
According to Wood Mackenzie data cited by the Financial Times, Chevron’s spending on conventional exploration and appraisal activity fell 36% to $1.82 billion between 2021 and 2025 compared with the previous five-year period.
The company also failed to find commercial quantities of oil and gas at a highly anticipated well in Namibia’s Orange Basin in July 2025.
Chevron’s reserves fell to 9.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent by the end of 2024, their lowest level in about a decade and almost half the level held by ExxonMobil.
Chevron CEO Mike Wirth had previously expressed dissatisfaction with the exploration division’s results, increasing pressure on the company to improve its discovery rate. A major part of McLachlan’s strategy is greater use of artificial intelligence.
Chevron is testing AI tools under a programme known as the “exploration moonshot”, using the technology to analyse large volumes of seismic data and identify patterns that could help geoscientists generate new prospects.
McLachlan said the company had tested the technology against discovery wells and dry holes and recorded a 90% predictive accuracy in the test.
The company intends to continue testing the technology before deploying it more broadly, with the aim of improving efficiency and exploration success.
Human expertise will nevertheless remain important, with Chevron combining AI analysis with experienced geoscientists and exploration teams.
