CONFIDENCE increased among most oil and gas firms last year despite the uncertain global economic outlook, but sentiment in Europe was less upbeat than in other regions.
In a survey of senior industry executives by the Economist Intelligence Unit in November, 82% said they were highly or somewhat confident about the business outlook for 2012.
When the survey was run in 2010, 76% of respondents expressed confidence.
In the latest survey, 90% of respondents in North America said they were confident compared with 81% in Asia Pacific and 71% in Europe.
Only 8% of respondents globally were pessimistic about the outlook.
The research by oil services firm GL Noble Denton found respondents believed the best opportunities to grow revenues were in North America, the Far East and south-east Asia.
Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States ranked sixth out of the 10 regions covered, with Western Europe in ninth.
A clear majority of respondents in Europe – 57% – said they planned to increase capital investment in 2012.
Some 72% of respondents in Asia Pacific planned to increase investment but only 55% in North America.
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