Expenditure in the global deepwater oil & gas market is set to double and could exceed $20 billion per annum by 2004, according to a definitive new study The World Deepwater Report 2000-2004 by analysts Douglas-Westwood and offshore industry data specialists Infield Systems. The report is the authors' second study of the potential offered by the deepwater oil & gas industry.

The forecast growth in deepwater activity has the potential to require drilling and completion of over 1,400 wells, supply of more than 1,000 subsea xmas trees, 300 templates and manifolds, and nearly 10,000 km of subsea control lines, 12,000 km of flowlines and risers, and over 100 floating and fixed platforms. In all, an expenditure of some $76 billion over the next five years is in prospect.
Up to 1960, the maximum water depth from which oil and gas was produced was 60 m; by 1990, this had passed the 600 m mark and by 2004 the authors expect 2,156 m to be achieved. This is the leading edge of technological achievement in an industry where the mean water depths of off-shore fields is currently little more than 100m. But a major deepwater field development is not only demanding of technology, it often requires a step change in approaches to organization of human resources on a global scale together with considerable financial courage to go where no one has commercially ventured before.

Most future activity is sited in the "golden triangle" of Brazil, West Africa and the Gulf of Mexico. The study shows that some of the greatest of these prospects lie off West Africa with projects including the $2.5 billion Girassol field, located on Block 17 off Angola. Over the next five years, the authors expect West African deepwater expenditure to accelerate from about $800 million in 2000, to nearly $5.5 billion in 2004, possibly even eclipsing Brazil to become the world's largest deepwater market. In total, the study identifies 220 deepwater field prospects worldwide with 20 billion barrels oil equivalent reserves.

More information: DOUGLAS-WESTWOOD LIMITED