been adopted by security forces for use in homeland security and drug enforcement work. Some eyeball ROVs are mounted on large work-class systems which they use as a local base and for which they provide extra viewing capability during complex operations
Market drivers
The market forecasts in The World ROV Market Report 2008-2012 is based on the analysis of demand drivers -- the work-class ROV industry has seen strong growth driven by the high long-term growth in oil prices of recent years -- and it is expect to continue.
Growth in offshore activity
Around a third of world oil & gas production came from offshore in 2007; a figure which will increase as long-term oil price rises have enabled some offshore fields, particularly in deepwater, to become economically viable. Also many onshore fields have now matured, requiring increasing effort to extract hydrocarbons and onshore areas are relatively well explored and therefore unlikely to see any significant increases in production. As onshore ROV operations are limited, any increase in offshore activity has a direct impact on the demand for ROV systems.
Move to deepwater
enabling deepwater projects to achieve cost profiles that are increasingly similar to those in shallow waters. Currently around 20% of total offshore expenditure is in deepwater and DWL forecast that this will reach over 30% by 2012. The increase in deepwater production is perhaps the biggest driver of the ROV industry, as water depths normally exceed that in which human intervention can be justified. It is also worth noting that in most of the promising deepwater regions of the world, security risks are minimal and are therefore attractive to oil companies who are increasingly security conscious. Even in the case of Nigeria, deepwater fields would appear to be less susceptible to hostile disruption or seizure than on land or in coastal waters because of their remoteness from shore.
Growth of offshore drilling rigs
Ongoing technological advances have enabled exploration, installation and production activities to move out into deeper and deeper waters. Improved technologies are
Drilling support is a major part of work-class ROV operations. Typical tasks involve the operation of BOP (blow-out-preventor) hydraulics, changing of ring seals & guidelines and valve operation - as well as various observation tasks such as riser inspection - although tasks that do not require the use of manipulator tools are more frequently assigned to smaller "eyeball" ROVs. The numbers of both drillships and semi-submersibles are forecast to increase to 2012. However, a lack of construction capacity has meant a shortfall in rig availability, increasing dayrates for vessels and therefore ROV systems.
The World Work-class ROV Operations Market
3.0
2003-2012 (Oil & Gas)
Africa As ia Pacific E Europe/FSU
2.5
Expenditure ($ billions)
2.0
Latin Am erica Middle Eas t
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Source: "The World ROV Report 2008-2012" - Douglas-Westwood 24 MTR November/December 2008
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