OSV owners echo positive market trend

CargotCargotec says that in April it secured new contracts to deliver 15 offshore support vessels (OSV) of various types being built in China for Asian customers throughout 2013 and 2014. "We clearly see OSV demand coming back strongly in Asia, the Middle East, West Africa and South America at the beginning of 2012, and the market outlook is even promising," says Francis Wong, Cargotec's sales director for offshore winch solution. "With Cargotec's strong global sales and service networks and leading technologies, we are prepared for the growth of the offshore market."    

Optimism is returning to the global offshore markets, supported by the rising demand amid bullish crude oil price and increased E&P spending, prompting more yards to wade into the offshore service vessel market. The OSV industry is currently facing technical challenges and regulatory hurdles as today’s OSVs are larger, more specialized, and technically more sophisticated to meet demands of complex deepwater oil and gas developments. The technical evolution of OSVs has initiated classification societies to work out new regulations for OSVs, which are intended to support design and build safer and more efficient offshore service vessels while minimizing operational risks.

China has emerged as largest contributor to the explosive growth in world’s OSV market place. Chinese shipyards now account for over 40% of global AHTS, and 20% of PSV orders. All of the 36 newbuilds for 2012 booked by China’s top OSV builder Sinopacific Shipbuilding Group (SSG) are from overseas owners. China’s hefty investment in the offshore sector over the next five years, pegged at US$47 billion, also justifies plans for smaller yards to pursue for new orders. In March, SINOPACIFIC Shipbuilding Group held a grand naming ceremony for its first self-designed and the world’s most advanced small AHTS offshore support vessel (OSV) - SPA 80 Diesel Electric DPII 80mt AHTS in its subsidiary shipyard Zhejiang Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. It marks the completion of the transition from joint to independent design that the OSV design capability of SINOPACIFIC has, breaking the situation that preliminary designs of OSVs were mostly monopolized by European, American and Singaporean companies in the past.

Triggered by emerging technology, the potential OSV market growth in both size and complexity is poised to bring new challenges for innovative solutions. Under this background, themed “Maximizing Commercial Opportunities Amid OSV Market Recovery By Meeting New Technical Challenges and Regulations”, Offshore Support Vessel World Forum (OSV World 2012) www.osvworld.com will be jointly presented by the largest OSV builder Sinopacific and the leading energy event organizer Topco. The event will review the changing market trends, technical renovations and regulatory challenges of the OSV industry.

“Every project exploring for offshore oil and gas needs OSVs, so I am very optimistic about the prospects of the OSV market.” Said Simon Liang, chairman and CEO of Sinopacific Shipbuilding Group. An anticipated 80% growth in offshore oil is helping to steer the rise in demand for offshore-support vessels with rig moves the main driver. Growing offshore-vessel demand from the rapidly rising fleet of drilling rigs and the high costs of operations. Mike Sano, Society Leader of OSV Market Sector Group, ABS said "As the search for oil and gas moves into deeper waters, more specialized and technically advanced types of OSVs are needed for various support roles."

“The market looks quite good. The main driver for the supply market is the rigs, so, over the next couple of years, we will see a big inflow of new rigs, more than 60 next year, as compared to 40 this year, and another 45 up to 2014,” said Sea Supply boss Finn Amund Norby.“The supply balance of support vessels is basically diminishing.”

OSV World 2012 www.osvworld.com will bring together the movers, shakers and leaders of Asia’s booming offshore support sector. It will be a platform for oil and gas producers, designers, builders, OSV owners, operators, drilling/installation contractors, classification societies, equipment suppliers, legal/financial service units to discuss and address future needs and challenges. In particular, the event will assess the critical role of China’s OSV sector and its contracting opportunities. Industry players will get updates on key design & technology trends in offshore projects and network with the most influential industry leaders.

For more information please visit www.osvworld.com

                                                                                                                                                                           (By Topco, 19-June-2012)

Please do not hesitate to contact me for more information and look forward to your feedback: osvworld@topcoevents.com