Seismic Support Vessels Market

Seismic Support Vessels Market Outlook (2023 to 2033)

Seismic vessels are meant to perform seismic surveys in the high oceans. These possess an excellent competency to pinpoint the best-suited area for oil drilling and underpin the process of oil and gas evacuation in oceans and high seas. The core purpose of seismic support is to limit the horizontal shaking of the earth due to earthquakes.

Furthermore, many other industries are anticipated to emerge as an application of these support vessels in the forecast period 2023 to 2033. Numerous players operating in the oil and gas business have been employing these vessels to draw a large quantity of oil and meet the rising demand for fuel, which is predicted to deliver optimistic growth opportunities to the market. The high risk of making gaffes by drilling off-target areas could hamper the natural ecosystem of marine life, which in turn is predicted to bode well for the growth of this market.

In order to conduct a thorough investigation into the creation of undersea rocks, ditches, and other critical information that could foresee any underwater calamity, seismic support vessels are also being used. This is projected to increase interest in them as research vessels, and the market is anticipated to have a positive growth over the following years.

What are the Drivers of demand in this market?

The offshore industry has grown recently, creating a significant demand for these vessels for the identification of potential subareas for oil drilling operations. Also, end users are increasingly turning to natural gas for their fuel needs due to growing worries about the damaging impacts of petroleum fuel on the environment. This has pushed the development of several regasification and liquefaction terminals by encouraging the offshore sectors to step up their efforts to extract natural gas and gain a significant market share. The market can be anticipated to expand at a remarkable rate given the rising need for natural gas.

Due to worries about national security, a number of nations have raised their defence spending, which is expected to spur the development of seismic support vessels. Manufacturers in the market are carefully integrating technology with these research vessels to offer superior features like a large work desk, reduced noise, high functionality, low fuel consumption, and increased accommodation capacity for guaranteeing precise geological surveys even in bad weather conditions. This is done because they are aware of the scope and financial potential that the defence industry offers. The market is expected to benefit from chances for sustained growth as a result in the coming years.

Recent Development

The industry is dominated by certain players owing to their more capital investment. Significant players operating in the market include Ulstein Group ASA, Sanco Shipping AS, Salt Ship Design, Swire Pacific Offshore Operations (Pte) Ltd, Cemre Shipyard, Rederji Groen, Naval Dynamics, Damen Shipyards Group, and Tananger Offshore AS. Mergers and acquisitions, new product launches, and feature enhancements have been the primary strategy of the players to secure their position in the market.

Recently, Bourbon Offshore in collaboration with Bureau Veritas and Kongsberg Maritime conducted remote testing of an application capable of remote surveying of Dynamic Systems (DP systems), which fetches valuable intelligence actively from the control systems of the ships and transmits it to the auditors through a secured cloud infrastructure. The newly developed application is expected to bring in automation to the survey process and offer continuous monitoring.

GC Rieber Shipping has negotiated the agreements for early delivery of Ernest Shackleton, an icebreaking research vessel, from British Antarctic Survey. On the closure of this agreement, Rieber anticipates a positive cash in-flow by employing the vessel before the expected period.

In 2018, France’ CGG delivered Geowave Voyager to SeaBird Exploration, a key player, which is equipped with a 40 Km streamer and is renamed Eagle Explorer. The companies have entered into a 160-day agreement for the operation of this vessel as a source vessel.

Regional Outlook

In terms of the geographical reach of the market, it can be said that economies with longer coastlines are expected to have a larger market share. South East Asia & the Pacific and China are expected to remain the most attractive regions in the global market.

These regions register high demand, which is driven by the demand from the offshore oil & gas industry. However, in terms of production, Europe and North America are expected to hold prominent shares in the market due to the high demand for these vessels in the geological survey and defence sectors. Moreover, Latin America is also estimated to grow at a significant growth rate over the forecast period, owing to improvements in the logistics and marine industry in the region.

Key Players

Examples of some of the market participants identified across the value chain of the market include,

• Tananger Offshore AS
• Damen Shipyards Group
• Naval Dynamics
• Rederij Groen
• Cemre Shipyard
• Swire Pacific Offshore Operations (Pte) Ltd
• Salt Ship Design
• Sanco Shipping AS
• Ulstein Group ASA

Segmentation

• On the basis of dimension :

  • Medium (less than 40 m)
  • Large (Between 40m – 70m)
  • Very large (Greater than 70m)

• On the basis of applications :

  • Oil & Gas Industry
  • Geological Survey
  • Defence

• On the basis of Regions :

  • North America (U.S., Canada)
  • Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru)
  • Western Europe (Germany, Italy, France, U.K., Spain, BENELUX, Nordic, Eastern Europe)
  • CIS and Russia
  • Asia-Pacific (China, India, ASEAN, South Korea)
  • Japan
  • Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries, South Africa, Turkey, Iran, Israel)