Editorial Advisory Board insights: Top offshore project efficiency opportunities over the next 3-5 years
This month we asked a few of Offshore's 2026 Editorial Advisory Board members about future trends in offshore project efficiency and key opportunities, innovations and strategies shaping offshore project success over the next few years.
Where do you see the biggest opportunities for improving offshore project efficiency over the next 3-5 years—from design through operations?
“A significant opportunity for improving overall project efficiency in the near term is the adoption of a simplification (capital efficiency focus) and standardization (duplication, replication focus) approach to the design and delivery of a floating production platform topside, hull and mooring systems. Gulf of America operators have realized significant capex and cycle time reduction and greater delivery certainty by adopting this approach for semisubmersible floating production platforms (Shell with Vito, Whale and Sparta and LLOG, Beacon with Delta House, Kings Quay and Shenandoah). bp is following with recently sanctioned semisubmersible FPS’s, Tiber and Kaskida.”
—Richard D’Souza, President, Richard B Offshore LLC
“Opportunities to improve offshore project efficiency center on standardization, remote operations, and more advanced survey and geophysical capabilities. Autonomous inspection and monitoring reduce offshore exposure while delivering higher‑quality data throughout the asset life cycle.”
—Alan Curtis, SVP and CFO, Oceaneering International (retired)
“As offshore projects move into deeper and more complex environments, developers and regulators gain a major advantage when they understand the full range of site conditions from day one. Early clarity on geology, seabed characteristics and environmental factors helps teams avoid redesigns, reduce permitting challenges and maintain schedule discipline throughout the project life cycle.”
—Céline Gerson, President and Group Director for the Americas, Fugro
“Over the next three to five years, we believe drilling efficiency will be significantly impacted by wider adoption of managed pressure drilling, while operational and production efficiency is likely to be positively impacted by improving production chemical designs and artificial lift integrity.”
—James West, Managing Director and Head of Energy and Power, Melius Research
“The next five years for offshore drilling face a growing demand from upstream operators to drill longer, complex wells in deeper reservoirs. This demand presents efficiency opportunities to enhance well designs, drive higher capital discipline, and maximize hydrocarbon recovery rates from subsurface. Advances in well design and rig automation are helping optimize operational efficiency by reducing human intervention, enabling remote monitoring to lower dynamic operational risk, and improving drilling efficiency through greater fleet reliability.”
—Caroline Alting, SVP of Operational Excellence and Sustainability, Noble Corp.
Want more industry insights? Visit the 2026 Editorial Advisory Board page for more information on all 15 of our board members and the strategies and insights they'll continue sharing throughout the year.
About the Author
Ariana Hurtado
Editor-in-Chief
With more than a decade of copy editing, project management and journalism experience, Ariana Hurtado is a seasoned managing editor born and raised in the energy capital of the world—Houston, Texas. She currently serves as editor-in-chief of Offshore, overseeing the editorial team, its content and the brand's growth from a digital perspective.
Utilizing her editorial expertise, she manages digital media for the Offshore team. She also helps create and oversee new special industry reports and revolutionizes existing supplements, while also contributing content to Offshore's magazine, newsletters and website as a copy editor and writer.
Prior to her current role, she served as Offshore's editor and director of special reports from April 2022 to December 2024. Before joining Offshore, she served as senior managing editor of publications with Hart Energy. Prior to her nearly nine years with Hart, she worked on the copy desk as a news editor at the Houston Chronicle.
She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Houston.