HOUSTON, June 11 -- Within 5 years, 26 companies have deepwater prospects totaling 20.7 billion bbl of oil equivalent, energy analysts Douglas-Westwood Ltd. and offshore data specialists Infield Systems reported Monday during a conference in New York.
This could result in total deepwater capital expenditures/year growing from the current $5 billion to more than $10 billion in 2005, said the report entitled "The World Deepwater Report 2001-2005."
The report projects a total of $38 billion in capital expenditures for deepwater from 2001-2005.
In the past 5 years, deepwater reserves totaling 5.4 billion boe were brought on stream by 13 companies.
Douglas-Westwood Director John Westwood said, "Production from the shallow water regions of the world is now in serious decline. But below 500 m water depth, it is set to increase dramatically as the oil majors target more than 20 billion boe of reserves slated for development in 114 fields in Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico, and West Africa.
In addition to large reserves, another factor driving activity is the high productivities of the deepwater prospects.
Infield Systems Data Manager Roger Knight said, "Down to 100 m water depth, the average field is expected to produce some 16,000 boe/d -- in 1,000-1,500 m, it is 62,000 boe/d."
In the past 5 years, Petroleo Brasileiro SA and Royal Dutch/Shell Group have bought more than 1 billion boe of deepwater reserves on stream. Within 5 years, Petrobras has 3.3 billion boe of prospects, BP PLC 2.5 billion boe, ExxonMobil Corp. 2.4 billion boe, Royal Dutch/Shell 2.3 billion boe and the pending combination of Chevron Corp. and Texaco Inc. 1.5 billion boe.
TotalFinaElf will be a newcomer to the billion-barrel deepwater club as the Girasol development comes on stream off Angola.
"This activity will result in a major growth in demand for the services of the offshore contractors," said analyst Dominic Harbinson, author of the report.
By 2005, he projects the deepwater sector will require 51 platforms, 719 production and injection wells, 5,961 km of flowlines, 2,598 km of control lines and 140 templates and manifolds.
"In fact the upside could be higher than we forecast. Our modeling adopts a very conservative stance as we are concerned that the deepwater sector may be limited by a lack of human resources and specialized vessels," Harbinson said.
