Increased activity in the exploration and production (E&P) sector will be the primary driver in pushing oil and gas capital expenditure (CAPEX) to an enormous $1,039 billion for 2012, said the latest report by natural resources experts GlobalData.

According to the report, North America is expected to witness the highest CAPEX globally, with $254.3 billion, representing a share of 24.5% of the 2012 global total. Compared to a global average CAPEX growth rate of 13.4%, North America is expected to witness a CAPEX growth of 15.7%. The increase of unconventional oil and gas activities, especially the continuing exploitation of shale oil and gas sites and the development of Canadian oil sands are the major drivers for these investments.

GlobalData said investor confidence in new upstream projects is being driven by the increasing number of oil and gas discoveries (242 last year alone), combined with consistently high oil prices and the arrival of new technologies that are giving the major firms access to deep offshore reserves that were previously technically and financially unviable.

To read the full GlobalData news release, click here.