Spending on floating production systems could rocket over the next four years, a new report has claimed.

Energy industry analysts Douglas Westwood predict a 138% increase in FPS and FPSO expenditure by 2018, taking the market to around $99billion.

And despite predictions of a slowdown in upstream expenditure this year, the move into ever-deeper and inhospitable waters in the hunt for oil will drive increased growth from operators.

Projects in Latin America are set to drive a significant proportion of the growth as Brazil’s oil market continues to open up.

The findings come as the firm publishes its 12th forecast report looking at the state of the floating production market.

“The strong forecast growth is despite the industry still coming to terms with a number of demand-side and supply-side issues,” said report author Damilola Odufuwa.

“The failure of Brazilian operator OGX in 2013 and the slow-down in overall upstream expenditure in 2014 will impact the market in the near-term. Likewise the industry’s record in terms of project execution has been poor, with most projects delivered late and significantly over-budget. Some industry players are now suggesting a new approach is required.”

“However, the long-term growth in the sector is underpinned by the continued exploitation of deep waters, marginal fields and fast-track/short term deployments.

“Deepwater FPS deployments are expected to total $68bn and account for over two-thirds of the total spend.”

http://www.energyvoice.com/2014/02/drive-deepwater-oil-set-grow-fpso-spend-138-next-four-years-say-experts/