Development surges to 552 fields - 20% in deepwater
Marshall DeLuca
Survey Editor
- FPSOs, such as the one shown here producing from Conoco's MacCulloch field in the Southern North Sea, are allowing lower entry costs for field development. [28, 128 bytes]
- Deepwater makes up 20% of fields under development across the globe. Shown here is Shell's Ram Powell tension leg platform in the US Gulf of Mexico. [25,601 bytes]
The rising development number is due largely to the stabilization of the price of crude at higher levels than anticipated several years ago and a greater flow of investment capital. But there are other factors:
Survey numbers
This year's survey includes 236 fixed production platforms, 74 floating production systems, and 170 subsea production systems. Also included are a number of well protector structures, which are typically unmanned minimal facilities, compliant towers, spar platforms, and tension-leg platforms. A majority of the fields are in the planning stage of development (284), followed by construction (177), designing (70), and bidding (23).The information contained in this survey was derived from Offshore Data Services' copyrighted publication - Offshore Field Development International - which regularly tracks offshore construction projects from design through installation phases. The data was collected under specific criteria and reflects information available at the time. Recent changes may not have been included.
Copyright 1997 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
![FPSOs, such as the one shown here producing from Conoco's MacCulloch field in the Southern North Sea, are allowing lower entry costs for field development. [28, 128 bytes]](http://images.pennwellnet.com/ogj/images/off2/1197offsurv1.jpg){kind=link}
![Deepwater makes up 20% of fields under development across the globe. Shown here is Shell's Ram Powell tension leg platform in the US Gulf of Mexico. [25,601 bytes]](http://images.pennwellnet.com/ogj/images/off2/1197offsurv2.jpg){kind=link}