Offshore staff
FAVERSHAM, UK –The autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) fleet will increase 42% in the 2014-2018 period, compared to the prior five years, predicts Douglas-Westwood. The total count will reach 825.
Key developments in areas such as sensing, battery endurance, and tracking stability widen the range of applications in the offshore oil and gas industry (life-of-field, pipeline inspections, and rig moves) also in civil hydrography, in addition to existing work in site and pipeline route surveys.
Even so, the largest demand still will come from the military with 50% of the total.
North America will dominate global AUV expenditure, predominantly on military unmanned technology, although the region’s market share is forecast to decrease from 64% in 2014 to 60% by 2018. Africa and Latin America should see the highest growth, driven bydeepwater oil and gas activities in presalt areas. Demand in Asia will vary, with research activities in Japan, deepwater expenditure in India, Indonesia and Malaysia, and military investment in China.
Details are available in the fifth edition of Douglas-Westwood’sAUV Market Forecast.
4/2/14
