Global Data

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This month, Infield looks at subsea wells in West Africa. With the elephant discoveries of the last 10 years beginning to come onstream, the past few years have seen a major increase in the growth of subsea tree orders. In the near term, with more hub and cluster developments on the horizon, there should be even more large orders for contractors to chase. When you combine this with the fact that operators should bring a steady number of tieback satellite fields onstream, the market potential for future wells appears extremely healthy.

Angola is the dominant player at present, with 54% of the wells forecast to start up over the next five years. This compares with 29% in Nigeria and is a reflection of the speed of new developments and of the potential for tieback fields.

In the first half of 2005, Infield has seen 83 tree orders placed for developments in the region, which is more than the number received in all of 2003. Operators have increased the order size. Cameron received an order for 44 trees for Akpo, and FMC received an order for 22 trees for the Chevron-led Agbami project.

We expect Angola’s growth to be mirrored off Nigeria as its development cycle moves forward. Certainly, for offshore West Africa, the best is yet to come.

-Howard Wright
Analyst, Infield Systems