Offshore Plant by HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 4 (Korea Bizwire) – As international oil prices continue to soar due to the extension of oil production cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia, offshore platforms drilling for oil and gas stored beneath the sea and tankers for transport are coming into the spotlight.
According to Clarkson Research, a U.K.-based specialist in analyzing shipbuilding and shipping market trends, the investment in offshore plants related to oil, gas and offshore wind power reached $89.5 billion in the first eight months of this year.
Including this amount, the FID (Final Investment Decision) scheduled by the end of this year totaled $170.5 billion, marking the highest investment in marine projects over the past 10 years.
In addition to the surge in offshore plant orders, the volume of newbuilding orders for crude tankers is also forecast to reach a 10-year high.
Tanker by Samsung Heavy Industries (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
The number of newbuilding orders for Suezmax tankers dropped to 18 units (550,000 CGT) in 2018 during the shipbuilding market slump, down from 44 units (1.34 million CGT) in 2014. The volume of such orders remained low at 13 units (390,000 CGT) in 2021 and 11 units (330,000 CGT) in 2022.
The volume of tanker orders, however, spiked to 41 units or 1.24 million CGT in the first eight months of this year. If this trend continues towards the end of this year, the volume of tanker orders is expected to hit a 10-year high.
The surge in newbuilding orders for tankers is led by Greek shipowners, with the majority of orders being placed at shipyards in China and Japan.
With South Korea’s major shipyards focusing on high-value-added ships such as LNG carriers, their Chinese and Japanese rivals are expanding their presence in the niche market of tankers.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
