Investment in deepwater exploration, development, and production will remain strong during the next 5 years, totaling more than $20 billion/year by 2010, reported John Westwood Nov. 9 at the Deep Offshore Technology conference in Vitoria, Brazil. Westwood is managing director of UK analyst Douglas-Westwood, which has just released a new report, World Deepwater Market Forecast 2006-10.
Steve Robertson, oil and gas research manager and lead author of the study, said deepwater sector expenditures would expand to a 7.3% compound annual growth rate during 2005-10, with especially strong growth in Asia and Latin America. “Advances in technology, particularly in mooring systems and innovative hull designs, are allowing production from greater water depths to be viable on both a technical and economic basis,” he said.
The Gulf of Mexico and areas off Africa and Brazil will continue to account for 85% of the global deepwater expenditures over the forecast period, Robertson said, with Asia emerging as a significant deepwater region.
Drilling and completion of subsea wells-increasingly more costly in areas such as the Gulf of Mexico-and floating platforms form the main component of deepwater development expenditure, Robertson said.
Marine analyst Georgie MacFarlan, manager of the company’s Oil & Gas Opportunities Database, said, “Over the next 5 years some $28 billion is likely to be spent on deepwater floating production systems, $36 billion on drilling and completing subsea wells, and $14 billion on flowlines and control lines, while subsea hardware and surface completed wells could account for a further $10 billion.” ✦
