Infield Sees Latin America and Africa Leading Subsea Industry

Infield Systems expects positive prospects for growth in the subsea sector, with global subsea capital expenditure (Capex) and subsea tree installations both anticipated to double in the next five years.

Overall, the subsea market will grow at a CAGR of 6.72% from 2014-2018. The principle driver for subsea growth is an increasing trend towards deepwater oil and gas development, brought about by continued high oil prices, key technological improvements and the need to replace maturing shallow-water basins. As a result, subsea developments have steadily increased over the past decade, as companies look to cost-effectively target reservoirs over a much wider area.

Latin America and Africa will maintain their dominance in the subsea industry, together accounting for over half of total global forecast Capex between 2014 and 2018. The primary drivers are massive pre-salt discoveries offshore Brazil located in the Santos and Campos basins. These ultra-deep water fields are mainly operated by Petrobras, with the National Oil Company (NOC) continuing as top global subsea investor in the next five years, capturing 25% of global Capex.

Europe will become the largest region in terms of subsea tree installations, despite the fact that it will contribute just 11% of subsea Capex. This is due to a lack of capital-intensive deepwater activity in the NWECS sub-region, with the majority of subsea tree installations tied to smaller, more marginal accumulations in shallow waters.

Asia and Australasia represent emerging opportunities for the subsea sector. These two regions will increase their combined market share from 8% in the last five years, to 14% in the next five years.