Highlights for the companies in this report include:

Increased property acquisitions caused total capital expenditures to more than double in 2010, rising from $72.8 billion in 2009 to $177.9 billion in 2010.

After-tax profits rebounded from $1.3 billion in 2009 to $35.8 billion in 2010. This improvement was primarily driven by increased revenues and decreased impairments.

Ending oil reserves increased 11% to 17.8 billion barrels in 2010. Oil production was essentially flat at 1.3 billion barrels in both 2009 and 2010. Oil production replacement rates posted their strongest results of the five-year survey period with an all sources rate of 234% and an excluding purchases and sales rate of 205%.

Gas reserves increased 12% in 2010 to 174.3 Tcf and gas production grew 1% to 11.9 Bcf, largely due to shale plays. Gas production replacement rates were strong in 2010 with anall sources rate of 252% and an excluding purchases and sales rate of 249%.

Proved reserve acquisition costs were $10.42 per BOE in 2010, while finding and development costs were $17.84 per BOE and reserve replacement costs were $15.26 per BOE. All three measures increased from 2009.

After declining in 2009, production costs rose 9% in 2010 to $11.90 per BOE.

Eoin Treacy's view This has been close to a record year in terms of expenditure by oil companies in developing new resources. This investment activity has been supported by high average oil prices and until recently the respective shares had performed well. However, the widespread stock market decline from late July hit the oil sector particularly hard and most shares pulled back sharply.

I last reviewed major oil producers on August 16th when they had found at least short-term support. Since then they have continued to pause in the region of their lows but have so far failed to rally significantly. This is a characteristic common to a number of sectors which normally benefit from robust global economic growth and is reflective of a continued sense of heightened investor anxiety.

Brent crude prices remain historically elevated and while a four-month progression of lower highs is evident, a sustained move below $100 will be required to confirm medium-term supply dominance. If the global economy continues to slow down, as currently appears likely, this should have an impact on demand for crude oil and hence prices.