Douglas-Westwood (DW) forecast in their new World Offshore Accommodation Market Forecast that, during the period 2015 to 2020, demand for offshore accommodation vessels will average almost 42,000 personnel on board (PoB) per year, which represents an increase of 14% compared to the preceding six-year period.
“Despite a peak between 2016 and 2018, the market will plateau towards 2020 as decreasing fixed platform installations and capital expenditure (capex) restrictions lead to a decline in construction support,” author Kathryn Symes says.
“Offshore accommodation units are utilized throughout a field lifecycle in both the operational expenditure (opex) and capex stages. Over the forecast period, opex-driven life-of-field (LoF) support will continue to dominate PoB requirements, accounting for 73% of demand, largely driven by the vast installed base of fixed platforms,” she says.
According to her forecast, operators will demand temporary accommodation support to minimize platform downtime during maintenance and modification work, ensuring continuity of production. Accommodation units, utilized to support hook-up and installation of platforms and subsea infrastructure, are more susceptible to oil price declines and will account for 27% of PoB requirements over the period.
“Asia accounts for the largest share of accommodation demand in the next six years, at 26%, due to the large number of installed platforms. The large tonnage of platforms in Western Europe, the substantial small fixed platform population in North America and increasing deepwater production in Africa are also key,” she says.
“Although a decline in capex-focused operations is expected to slow demand for accommodation units, opex operations, such as maintenance and modifications, will drive continuing global demand across accommodation types through to 2020.”
Image: EMAS Lewek Chancellor / EMAS
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