International Maritime Associates (IMA) and Energy Maritime Associates (EMA) have completed an in-depth analysis of the floating production sector. The inventory of floating production systems is now at 269 units – FPSOs account for 61% of the existing systems. The balance is comprised of production semis, tension leg platforms, production spars, production barges, and floating regasification/storage units. Thirteen units (twelve FPSOs and one semi) are off field and available for reuse – resulting in an overall utilization rate of 95.2%. Another 93 floating storage/offloading units (without production capability) are in service.
The backlog of production floater orders remains at an all-time high. Current order backlog consists of 72 production floaters – 40 FPSOs, 6 production semis, 5 TLPs, 4 spars, 1 production barge, 4 FLNGs and 12 FSRUs. Almost half of floater fabrication work is taking place in Asia, principally conversion work in Singapore and China, with newbuilding work principally in Korea. Since March 2013, contracts for ten production units totaling over US$11billion have been placed, including the most expensive FPSO ever ordered at $3billion. This continues the trend of increasingly higher prices, with the cost of a production floater now averaging close to $1billion.
FPSO processing capacity has more than doubled in the past decade. The FPSO industry continues to see advances in processing capacity as well as sheer numbers of units. In mid-2003 there were 83 FPSOs in operation. This figure has now grown to 153 units, excluding available FPSOs and a few small units used for well testing. In the past ten years, oil processing capacity on these FPSOs has grown from 6.1million b/d to over 13.7million b/d. Not only are there more FPSOs installed, but their oil processing capacity has increased – to 90,000b/d from an average of 74,000b/d during the past decade.
Despite the spectacular growth in unit numbers and increasing order values, IMA and EMA see indications that deepwater investment may slow. According to Jim McCaul, head of IMA, “Maybe it is more than a coincidence that five major deepwater projects have been deferred over the past several months. Each project had its own reason for deferral. But five in such a short period sends warning signals to everyone in this sector.”
These findings are from the IMA/EMA’s recent study: Floating Production Systems: assessment of the outlook for FPSOs, Semis, TLPs, Spars, FLNGs, FSRUs and FSOs.
Subscribe
