The era of transformation
As the 1980s got underway, the future was looking bright for the upstream industry. However, as has happened so many times before, and will likely happen again, the boom gave way to bust. While Saudi Arabia had initially curbed its production to accommodate increased supply from non-OPEC nations, the kingdom changed tack around the middle of the decade and ramped up production sharply. World Oil responded to the market share battle by throwing its full weight behind the ultimately unsuccessful campaign for an oil import fee, which was designed to alleviate the pressure on the domestic industry.
The Saudis’ decision to pursue market share ushered in one of the sharpest contractions in the history of the upstream industry and set U.S. production on a downward trajectory, which would ultimately be reversed only by the shale boom. In 1985, the year prior to our era, U.S. production averaged 8.971 MMbopd. However, with just one exception—in 1991, the U.S. pumped 7.417 MMbopd as compared to 7.355 MMbopd a year prior—production would fall throughout the period.
The era also saw a number of watershed moments for the upstream industry. After suffering a major setback that would have cowed many operators, Statoil overcame adversity to bring its Sleipner development onstream on schedule. Meanwhile, the Piper Alpha disaster, which claimed the lives of 167 people, ushered in a new era of safety in the North Sea.
The ever-changing face of the industry, on both the operator and the service-and-supply side of the business, also underwent some major changes during the period and gave rise to some of today’s biggest names. On the operator side, the union of Exxon and Mobil was the deal of the era, while the service side was dominated by the union of Baker International Corporation and Hughes Tool Company.
And as the 20th century drew to a close, explorers made a number of multi-billion-barrel discoveries around the globe. Kashagan, offshore Kazakhstan, was the era’s largest find. The field, which has estimated recoverable reserves of 7–13 Bbbl, has been plagued by problems and is yet to resume production. Other significant discoveries during the period include BP’s Thunder Horse development, Petrobras’ Roncador field, Cusiana and Cupiagua fields onshore Colombia, and Iran’s Azadegan oil field.
On the home front, Gulf Publishing Company (GPC) also underwent a period of transition between 1986 and 2000, as the company experienced several changes of leadership, one of the company’s co-founders passed away, and the company was sold to a new owner. 
