John Westwood Opens Offshore Survey 2011

MacDonald welcomed all the delegates and somehow seemed surprised that this is already our third edition of the conference, “incredible how time flies”. He spoke enthusiastically about the Conference programme, which contains a wide range of exciting and varied technical presentations.

MacDonald mentioned in his address the many changes within the survey industry. “Offshore Survey is co-located with Ocean Business, this brings some huge benefits. Attendees of Offshore Survey can bring themselves up to date with all vital technologies. Both for potential new recruits and experienced professionals, Offshore Survey is the place to meet all the key people in the hydrographic survey sector”, he said.

John Westwood

As keynote speaker, John Westwood gave a presentation entitled ‘Prospects for the Global Offshore Industry’. “Certainly we have seen awful lot of changes,” he began, and went on to mention the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the tsunami in Japan, and the current Arab uprising as very influential events in the market. Well aware of being at an hydrographic event, he emphasised the link between energy and marine. “We live in a world with a global drive for energy: that is sustainable, secure, affordable and, above all, safe. There is a growing demand for energy, driven by population growth and growth in GDP. Especially the impact of the of the growth economies on energy demand is big.”

Westwood commented that oil supplies would be limited, while the global capacity base still loses around 3Mb/d each year due to field decline. “The International Energy Agency sees the demand for oil rising slowly. Offshore is one of the few remaining places where the oil majors can increase production. This shows the importance of the offshore industry.”

When it comes to gas, Westwood sees chances for the offshore industry too. Deepwater gas and LNG he sees as of growing importance. He pointed out that LNG could meet 20% of global gas supplies by 2020, and that Australia had massive offshore reserves and CMB prospects. A real growth area is the importance of deepwater; both Capital expenditures (Capex) and Operating expenditures (Opex) will grow strongly in the years ahead. According to Westwood, deepwater production will double, with Capex up to 179% by 2015. he predicted the subsea business would also to see good growth. Furthermore, Westwood sees the UK decommissioning of offshore installations that are into their mature phase as a potential major business opportunity.

He signals major growth underway, this goes especially for offshore wind. UK is the world’s biggest market, followed by Germany and China. Westwood also mentioned wave and tidal current stream as a huge natural resource with a lot of potential.