Exploration and production will stabilize in the first few months of next year, after which time the outlook will become "perilous", the Institute Francais du Petrole (IFP) has claimed.

At a recent news conference in Paris, the organisation's president Olivier Appert said that there is a strong likelihood that many projects will be shelved or scrapped as the economic downturn continues.

"It is a perilous exercise to forecast future investments when I see projects being postponed, resized, or scrapped," he explained, adding that stabilization was in many ways an optimistic forecast.

Chief economist Nathalie Alazard explained that growth is likely to continue at 18 per cent up to the end of the year, largely driven by Middle Eastern and Asian industries, China excepted.

Meanwhile, the Oil and Gas Journal reports that the president of French oil service GEP Dominique Michel claimed many contracts have been resubmitted three times in response to sliding oil prices.

This week, oil prices have traded near a four-year low, with the New York Mercantile Exchange's main contract falling to $43.67 a barrel.

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