The international oil and gas industry has always required access to external capital - debt and equity - in order to finance growth and the development of oil and gas projects. Today the industry faces an unprecedented number of investment opportunities and demands at a time when internally generated cash flow, historically the primary source of capital for most companies, is depressed. The underlying premise of this paper is that while the capital requirements of the industry in the next decade are likely to be in excess of the US$1 trillion spent during the last decade, capital, both internally generated and from external sources, will be available. However, restrictions on the allocation and the cost of capital will be crucial in determining which projects and companies are successful. The capital requirements of the next decade to maintain current oil production levels, replace reserves, fund exploration and development in the frontier areas and meet the environmental challenges of the downstream sector, call upon both the industry and the financial community to create innovative financial structures which ensure that capital is made available on terms which meet the requirements of both borrowers and lenders.