Reuters reports New York-headquartered Citigroup Research as saying, in a study released earlier this week, that oil companies were planning to spend about $US253 billion ($A341 billion) worldwide to find and produce oil – up from $207 billion in 2005.

The study, which surveyed 211 independent and public oil companies, showed this would be the biggest jump in global exploration and production spending since 2001.

The report said higher service and equipment costs were the most common reason for the forecast increased spending, which was up sharply from Citigroup’s last previous study released in December.

The survey also showed energy companies had increased their three-year forecast for crude oil prices by $4 to an average of $54 per barrel.

If the survey forecasts prove accurate, 2006 will be the sixth successive year oil companies will have spent more than they initially planned on finding and producing oil.

A similar survey, released at the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association annual conference last month, showed Australia’s exploration expenditure had risen but exploration activity had actually fallen.

While more money was being spent on exploration, this reflected rising costs rather than increased activity, according to oil and gas consultancy RISC.

Exploration expenditure increased in 2005, but the number of exploration wells drilled and seismic data acquired was down on long-term averages, RISC said. The observed increased expenditure is due to higher costs.

According to an APPEA report, Australian exploration spending is now about $1 billion a year.

The United States Energy Information Administration on Tuesday forecast world oil consumption – presently about 84 million barrels of oil per day (bopd) – will grow by 1.7 million bopd this year, and another 1.9 million bopd in 2007.