Speaking at Middle East Workboats and Offshore Marine, Ian Henderson, managing director, Rigships fzco, part of the RS Platou Group was confident on the market's future, despite listing a few caveats, including the necessity of the highest environmental and operational standards to secure charters, and the ability for absolute market change should the region's geopolitical issues develop.
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"We see that OSV rates are firmer, and are likely to rise further in the next two to three years. With the ongoing development of deepwater markets and if the oil price stays high, the outlook to 2020 is actually very rosy for vessel owners."
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Rigships forecast that utilisation rates will go up, "although PSVs may weaken, pending deepwater." added Henderson, "shallow water is very much in demand, Â at $100 per barrel it is a very viable business."
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According to Henderson's estimates, the ratio of OSVs to rigs, a popular indicator of the supply and demand situation, is estimated to fall from 5.7 to under 3.5 between now and 2015. For PSVs, the fall is less severe, but the climb in the ratio from 2000 until this year is set to stop, with the ratio falling marginally between 2013 and 2015.
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"There is huge number of PSV tenders outstanding, I think 75 PSV tenders outstanding word wide, and interestingly enough, about 20 of those are going to happen in the Middle East.
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"There is still a lot of older availability and we do expect that to be laid up; we do not expect 25 year old vessels to go through their next special surveys, we just don't think it's as economic as it was. That will tighten the market as well," he added.
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