Page 38: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2015)

The 2015 The 2015

YearbookYearbook

Courtesy SBM Offshore

Offshore Outlook

As we are now one year along on the great oil and gas price swoon of 2014, MR exam- ines the energy market – and its impact on marine business – going forward.

s the reality of the

The Norway Way sub-$60 barrel of

Norway is a high cost country, from oil starts to settle a beer at the bar to manufactured ships in, reaction from and everything in between. Oil produced the offshore sec- from the Norwegian North Sea is cer- tor is predictable: tainly no exception. Oil is a precious

Aslashing of costs, commodity globally, but perhaps even mainly in the form of reductions in E&P more so to Norway, which depends on budgets (we’ve heard, in some cases, the productivity of its offshore oil wells by as much as almost 40%), and em- for its very ? nancial footing, today and ployee layoffs by the tens of thousands. in the future.

Offshore oil production, particularly in

With oil being central to the Norwe- high-cost regions such as the Norwe- gian way, its outlook on the current price gian North Sea and in deeper waters, has crisis, delivered courtesy of “Maritime started to slow considerably.

Outlook 2015” from the Norwegian

As our own Tish Keefe reported in Shipowners Association (NSA) is telling. the April 2015 Offshore Annual edition While the precipitous plunge is problem- of Maritime Reporter & Engineering atic, it really only tells a portion of the

News, many oil majors have approached story. Norway considers prolonged stag- key suppliers and demanded 30% cost nation in the global economy, growing reductions … to start the negation. political tension and instability in several

In truth it is foolhardy to nobly pro- world regions, and a general breakdown crastinate on the future direction of oil in international cooperation all factors and gas pricing, as we have seen many making the path ahead a perilous one for ‘experts’ on the industry take vastly dif- this wealthy oil nation of ? ve million. ferent views on the direction and speed

Norway is also a global leader in the of the recovery. In the report released design, out? t and production of Offshore in Spring 2015, “Global Offshore Proj-

Service Vessels (OSVs) with a ? eet ex- ects 2015” from Wikborg|Rein, Gavin ceeding 600 vessels, second largest in

Stachan wrote that OPEC believes the the world behind the United States. Nor- oil price will rise in a few months; many wegian OSV owners expect turnover to

Western oil companies anticipate low fall by 4.2% in 2015, the ? rst fall in turn- prices for 12 to 18 months while BP is over in the OSV segment since 2002. planning on low prices for three years,

Conversely, a winner on the maritime while the IEA sees the price ‘bumping side of the equation has been the tanker along’ in the $75 range for many years.

market. When OPEC essentially refused

Courtesy SBM Offshore

Complex designs: The FPSO Cidade de Ilhabela 38 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • JUNE 2015

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