Oil and gas activity in Norway is on a high and the trend is likely to continue until at least 2020, according to Norwegian private equity powerhouse Hitecvision.
The firm, based in Stavanger, predicted some 15-20 large fixed platforms, 10 floating production vessels and about 60 subsea developments will be sucking up resources and capital in the Norwegian sector up to 2020.
Spending was expected to reach about £42.8billion in 2017 – nearly double the figure seen in 2011 – and will stay at that level until 2020, said Hitecvision senior partner Tor Espedal.
With the spending would come constraints in capacity for equipment and resources, but also opportunities for the supply chain, he said.
Mr Espedal said the subsea market will be a strong focus.
“There is a lot of large pipelay going to be needed. If you look at oil service sector capacity in the North Sea for pipeline, with two players, Subsea 7 and Technip, there will be a need for more capacity in that area in the North Sea.”
Hitecvision recently invested in new firm Ocean Installer, which earlier this year took a five-year lease to rent the entire Innovation Centre premises at Bridge of Don. It also owns Reef Subsea, which has sites in Aberdeen.
Mr Espedal thought the clever players in the market would seek capacity outside of Aberdeen and Stavanger and from other sectors, to keep a lower cost base.