Subsea firms in the north-east are going to face increasing competition for staff and rising costs as work ramps up in the North Sea, a major conference on the sector will hear this morning.
Subsea 2012 is being held at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre today and tomorrow with speakers from firms including oil giants Chevron and BP but also windfarm operators and experts in subsea technology.
Andrew Reid, chief executive of energy consultant Douglas-Westwood, will outline the growing global market, driven by continuing demand for oil and gas, especially in deepwater projects. However, he will also say that the increasing activity could pose problems around manpower and resources, globally but also in the North Sea.
“There will be a lot of pressure on the UK market in my view,” he said.
“It is poised for a bit of a boom.
“There is a lot of investment and large projects either under way or due to occur over the coming two to three-year period as well as smaller projects.
“From this increased activity there will no doubt be major issues in trying to get stuff done, a bit like in 2007-08 when people were not worried about winning work but had to focus on how to fulfil contracts without throwing lots of money at them.
“This can be quite a challenge. People are all too aware of their worth.”
Resources will be even more of a challenge in some of the areas expecting the greatest growth – such as Brazil and west Africa, where the resourcing, equipment and personnel issues are increased by requirements for local content, he said.
He will estimate capital spending in deepwater projects will reach £149.2billion – up 92% – for the 2012-16 period, dominated by the Gulf of Mexico, Brazil and west Africa. Subsea development wells are predicted to double by 2015 and the majority of those, at 80%, are likely to be deepwater, he will add.
This will in turn lead to increase demand for subsea infrastructure, drilling and construction equipment and inflationary pressure on costs.
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