Investment in the oil and gas industry will see a tentative recovery in 2017 after an "unprecedented contraction" in 2016 and 2015 in face of stubbornly low energy prices, the International Energy Agency said in a report on Tuesday.

The IEA said upstream oil and gas investment -- such as in exploration and production facilities -- fell 26 percent in 2016 in nominal terms to $434 billion, similar to the decline seen in 2015.

IEA executive director Fatih Birol told AFP: "We do not expect a major rebound, as many hoped, in order to make up the difference."

Total global energy investment fell by 12 percent in 2016.