The top five Western oil and gas companies sharply slowed the search for new fossil fuel resources last year, data from Oslo-based consultancy Rystad Energy showed. The five companies are Royal Dutch Shell, BP (British Petroleum), France’s Total, Exxon Mobil, and Chevron. Acquisitions of new onshore and offshore exploration licenses for the top five Western energy giants dropped to the lowest in at least five years due to the epidemic, Rystad Energy analyst Palzor Shenga said. “Acquiring additional leases comes with a cost and it demands some work commitments to be fulfilled. Hence, companies would not want to pile up on additional acreages in their non-core areas of operations,” Shenga said. Global oil demand encountered an unprecedented collapse of 8.8 million barrels per day in 2020, according to International Energy Agency (IEA). IEA also anticipated capital investment in the energy sector to fall by 18 percent in 2020, with the largest …