Offshore Floating Production Hits Headwinds
Floating production has been one of the most significant developments in the oil and gas industry over the past four decades. Since the first floating production unit (Argyll) was installed in 1975, more than 350 offshore fields too deep, too remote or too small for fixed platforms have been developed using floating production facilities. Looking forward, the future of the sector continues to look very promising, but some barriers and threats to growth have appeared. Three hundred and twenty (320) oil/gas floating production units are now in serviceā¦
Shale Oil Is it a Threat to Future Deepwater Development?
In general the floating production sector looks healthy and growth remains strong. But the sudden expansion of shale oil and tight oil production could disrupt the growth trajectory in the deepwater sector. The underlying drivers for deepwater development point toward continued sector growth. Spot and futures crude pricing is at levels supporting deepwater development. Oil demand keeps growing and there continues to be need for new future sources of oil. The threat of supply disruption from traditional sources remains, prompting oil companies to look at alternative sources. Activity in the deepwater sector is robust. More than 200 deepwater projects are in the planning stage that will likely require a floating production system for development.
