More than $600 billion will be spent by the global oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) industry and the largest growth will without doubt be offshore, an expert has said.

 

Forecasters have different views on oil supply for the future. However, most generally agree future oil demand will have to be met by production from unconventional sources such as ultra-deep water, oil sands, heavy oil and shale oil. As such, aggregate exploration expenditure has been increasing at about a 10 per cent annual increment since the 2008 global financial crisis. 

 

Some of the current growth is due to delayed projects restarting. However, there is a trend towards increasing spend in the long-term, said John Westwood, a globally-renowned commentator on the energy industries and currently group chairman of energy business advisory firm, Douglas-Westwood. 

 

Natural gas is steadily gaining traction as the fuel of choice for power generation, and is expected to be increasingly used as transportation fuel in future. Forecasters expect demand to grow by 50 per cent by 2030. In order to access the considerable reserves located in remote offshore locations, giant floating LNG (FLNG) vessels are being designed and built against the backdrop of great technical challenges and high costs. 

 

Westwood expects expenditure on semi-submersible rigs, drillships, jackups and FLNG vessels will rise strongly for the next couple of years. Outlook for the equipment & services sector, especially for subsectors such as deepwater oil and gas and the associated subsea industry, will be bullish, as a result, he said. 

 

The Asia Pacific is emerging as a deepwater market, alongside the regions of East Africa, Eastern India and the Eastern Mediterranean, joining major deepwater plays in the ‘golden triangle’ of Brazil, Gulf of Mexico and West Africa. 

 

“With growing global focus on deepwater and subsea, as well as LNG, opportunities for the region’s engineering and construction companies and yards look set to grow in the years ahead and it is likely that the majority of the world’s floating rigs, production systems and subsea support vessels will be built here. The market is changing quickly, and Asian companies need to stay competitive,” stated Westwood.  

 

Westwood will present the plenary keynote at the OSEA2012 International Conference on November 27 at the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. 

 

Poised to beat previous records, OSEA2012, with its exhibition space fully allocated since March 2012, will occupy two levels of exhibition space, or more than 31,000 sq m. The exhibition will play host to a congregation of 1,500 international exhibitors from 48 countries/regions. - TradeArabia News Service