As oil and gas development programs are conducted in more complex and deeper seas, demands and investment towards high specification subsea vessel are expected be more active.

According to Douglas-Westwood, global demands for subsea vessel market are prospected to increase around 23% over the next five years (2013-2017), compared to the last five years (2008-2012).

Moreover, investment needed for subsea vessel operation, such as multi-purpose support vessel (MSV), diving support vessel (DSV), Light Well Intervention Vessels (LWIV), Inspection, Repair & Maintenance vessel (IRM), pipe-laying vessel, flexlay vessel and so on, is anticipated to amount to around $106bn, which is a rise by around 54% against the past five years, Douglas-Westwood said.

Particularly, as high specification vessel demands get stronger for offshore development in deeper and more complex seas, increasing rate of investment in subsea vessel is forecasted to be higher than that of operation days.

Douglas-Westwood said, “Operators want larger efficiency and profitability when developing subsea energy, thus new technologies or new procedures are introduced in subsea vessel industry,” and added that demands for high voltage cables to supply electric power to production platforms, subsea facilities and etc. located at long distances are notably growing that flexlay vessel demand is also expected to increase together with roles of electric engineering-related companies in subsea sector to be extended.

Meanwhile, the weight of subsea sector in global offshore energy market is continuously developing and opportunities from it will be gradually expanded to West Africa, the East Mediterranean Sea and oceans in arctic regions lastly, from deepwater pre-salt development offshore Brazil.