Big spending to 2017 predicted for floating production systems

Oct. 4, 2012
Between 2013 and 2017, $91 billion will be spent on 121 floating production systems, predicts Douglas-Westwood in its “World Floating Production Market Forecast 2013-2017.”

Offshore staff

CANTERBURY, UK –Between 2013 and 2017, $91 billion will be spent on 121 floating production systems, predicts Douglas-Westwood in its “World Floating Production Market Forecast 2013-2017.”

Factors driving the growth include the larger number of newbuilds and conversions compared to redeployments, increasing demand for local content, and general cost inflation for offshore operations.

“FPSOs represent by far the largest segment of the market both in numbers (94 installations) and forecast capex (80%) over the 2013-2017 period,” says Hannah Lewendon, report author. FPSSs account for the second largest segment of capex, followed by TLPs, then spars.

“Floating production is firmly established as a cost-effective method of developing oil and gas fields around the world. In water depths beyond 500 m (1,640 ft) floating production systems becomes one of the few options open to operators, an increasingly important factor as production moves into these areas. DW forecast that 63% of global FPS market spend will be in deepwaters.”

Almost a third of the total will be in Latin America, says DW, with Asia, Africa, and Western Europe making up most of the remainder of the forecast numbers.

10/04/2012