In 2015, the offshore oil and gas industry has had to come to terms with the worst downturn for more than a decade. With commodity prices nosediving to an 11-year low in December, it is time to reflect on the year gone by and consider the outlook for the year to come.

Offshore rig markets still have a lot to digest before recovery. Rig day rates have plummeted as a function of significant oversupply.  Many of these rigs were ordered in the previous up-cycle, but have only recently entered the fleet at a time when the appetite to drill is poor.

The number of offshore oil and gas discoveries made in 2015 dropped by 60 percent and 45 percent when compared to 2013 and 2014 respectively. The market for newbuilds has evaporated, and, such is the extent of the oversupply, rates are unlikely to recover any time soon and rig owners around the world will continue to defer the delivery of new rigs and consider scrapping of non-competitive units.

A backlog of subsea orders has supported high levels of offshore installation activity in 2015 – for example, major pipelines such as Ichthys and Polarled were installed this year. Subsea installation activities in West Africa and Latin America have also continued to thrive due to Petrobras' commitment to deepwater production – all despite considerable financial constraints. Large deepwater developments such as Total's Egina field and Shell's continued development of the Bonga field are highlights among capital-intensive projects offshore West Africa in 2015.

However, it is important to note that backlogs are falling rapidly – only a few projects have been sanctioned this year. Of these, notable examples of fields receiving Final Investment Decisions over the past year include Statoil's Johan Sverdrup field, Shell's Appomattox field and BP's Shah Deniz Phase 2 subsea development.

In summary, there is reason to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but we should expect that it might take time to reach it.