Key state-owned oil and gas companies in the Asia-Pacific region, including India’s Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and PetroVietnam, are expected to continue their spending on offshore projects, with India alone likely to offer more than $10 billion worth of orders to offshore contractors during the next few years, said industry sources.

ONGC’s KG-DWN-98/2 project and Reliance’s KG-D6 deep-water development projects on the east coast are likely to dominate deep-water developments in India, providing several major opportunities for offshore contractors.

ONGC has already embarked on its $5 billion-plus Cluster-2 development of the KG-DWN-98/2 deep-water asset.

The Indian operator is also expected to develop the Cluster-1 and Cluster-3 assets in the deep-water block over the next three to five years, which could together be valued at more than $4 billion.

In addition, Reliance Industries and UK-based partner BP are expected to develop some satellite discoveries in KG-D6 along with its MJ-1 gas discovery in the same block. Together, these are likely to involve investments of more than $4 billion, said sources.

ONGC’s ongoing Cluster-2’s subsea tender for engineering, procurement, construction and installation covering umbilicals, risers and flowlines is said to be attracting interest from McDermott and its Indian partner Larsen & Toubro, Technip, Saipem and Subsea-7.

The same project includes a second tender involving a huge offshore process platform.

PetroVietnam is also expected to offer sizable offshore developments to contractors over the next few years.

The bidding process for at least three projects, including the ongoing tender for a process platform required for the Block B development, is in the sights of McDermott and others.

Australia is also expected to offer a number of prospective business to offshore contractors over the next few years, mostly on brownfield developments.

Sources said that developments including expansion work at the Gorgon field, a key scheme related to the Barossa field and the second phase of Ichthys are also likely to gain momentum within a year or two.

While Indian, Vietnamese and Australian offshore markets are likely to provide several opportunities for contractors, other markets in the region are relatively quieter at the moment, but this may change.

“There is growth and there is demand, so it will come back and it is just a case of timing,” said Hugh Cuthbertson, McDermott’s vice president for Asia

Weekly

ONGC and PetroVietnam are big spenders