At last there is some good news for benighted offshore support vessel owners — if they can survive until 2027.
Researchers at Fortune Business Insights claim the sector will be worth nearly $21bn by then, up from $16.1bn in 2019.
The company drew on interviews with key players, government reports and company data to produce its findings.
It found that rising production of "conventional and unconventional reservoirs" will boost shipowners, as many are refinancing in a market hit by coronavirus and oil price falls.
Renewables the key
"The global OSV market size is poised to gain traction from increasing investments in the deployment of renewable and non-renewable energy generation procedures across all regions," Fortune Business Insight said.
The sector is likely to enjoy a compound annual growth rate of 7.9% over the next seven years.
"The emergence of Covid-19 has brought the world to a standstill. We understand that this health crisis has brought an unprecedented impact on businesses across industries. However, this too shall pass," it added.
Fortune Business Insights said rising support from governments will help the recovery.
"The increasing demand for energy, and oil and gas products, is likely to create growth opportunities for the market in the long run," it added.
Fortune Business Insights points to the recent discovery of offshore hydrocarbon assets as a growth driver.
"In addition to this, the presence of a substantial amount of oil and gas reserves is also boosting the market," it claimed.
It said Italy's ENI had announced the discovery of a new reserve in the Sureste Basin off Mexico in February.
It holds estimated reserves of between 200m and 300m barrels of oil.
The company picks out anchor handling tug supply vessels as holding a dominant market share in future, due to their versatility.
Asia Pacific is the region likely to emerge dominant as hydrocarbon activities rise, but Europe will come a close second due to clean energy initiatives.
"North America will witness significant growth on account of the growing production of conventional and unconventional reservoirs," it said.
"Furthermore, the availability of huge unexplored reservoirs at low capital expenditure is expected to help the Middle East and Africa region witness notable growth during the forecast period."
Shipowners will continue to design new ships to meet new challenges, the report said.
