Oil and gas industry has often been termed a cyclical business in that when prices of oil and gas are low, petroleum companies cut their exploration spending thus setting the stage for a new price hike as supplies lag again behind demand. Indeed over the last century O&G production companies have tended to underinvest in periods of falling prices leading to countless up and down cycles. The price collapse of the 1980s led companies to reduce investments and sparked a wave of mega-mergers throughout the sector and then left the world scrambling for oil when demand from Asian and Latin American economies soared during the first decade of the 21st century