“If you cannot get the fund to replace reserves and production as time moves forward and you sell what you have, you are going out of business.”
That rationale applies for the oil industry, not for oil companies.
There are plenty of companies who stay in business by buying reserves, not drilling for them.
Also, history proves the cyclic nature of these price swings, so companies that withstand the downside swings knows it can be back to drilling at some time in the future.
But buying reserves takes funds, same as drilling. That doesn’t change the point that cheap previous purchases or exploration are already past expenses. To stay in the business, you have to replace reserves and production declines eventually.