DW: Deepwater equipment investment will increase in the next 5 years

       Recently, British energy consulting company Douglas-Westwood (DW) said that although the recent oil price collapse has caused operators to postpone high-cost projects, in the next five years, the offshore industry's deepwater spending is expected to increase by 69%.

       In the 2015-2019 forecast report, DW expects that capital expenditure will hit the lowest point in the next two years, mainly due to the delay in the delivery of Brazilian offshore floating production facilities due to the corruption of Brazilian oil. However, after 2016, driven by the development of new natural gas projects in Latin America, West Africa and East Africa, deepwater spending is expected to pick up again.

Mark Adeosun, author of the DW forecast report, pointed out that with the decline in production in mature basins and shallow waters onshore, the development of deepwater oil and gas reserves has become increasingly critical, especially for oil giants. Therefore, DW expects deepwater spending to reach US$210 billion in the next five years, a 69% increase over the previous five years, with deepwater spending in Africa, Latin America and North America reaching US$117.3 billion.

        At the same time, DW also expects that oil prices will experience a longer-term recovery, from the current US$57 per barrel to US$80 per barrel, which will ensure the feasibility of most deepwater project development.

       In addition, DW believes that the downturn in drilling platform daily rent will also drive the growth of deepwater spending. Due to the decline in oil prices, the decrease in market demand and the serious excess capacity, the daily rent of drilling platforms has been declining.

        Although the decline in natural gas prices in Asia has hit the prospects of East Africa's natural gas projects, assistant report editor Balwinder Rangi pointed out that the development of the East African natural gas basin is an inevitable trend, and it is expected that the rebound in oil prices in 2019 will also promote the reactivation of LNG-related projects.