Market Trends of Liner Hanger System Industry
This section covers the major market trends shaping the Liner Hangers Market according to our research experts:
Increasing Demand from the Offshore Sector
- The offshore oil and gas industry accounts for about 30% of the global crude oil production. The Middle East, North Sea, Brazil, and the Gulf of Mexico are the major offshore oil and gas producing regions.
- In 2017, around 40% of shallow water oil production came from mature regions, such as Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific. The mechanical liner hangers are deployed in shallow waters, as they are relatively less expensive and technically less challenging for the operators to explore and drill. These systems are in high demand, where the well construction cost is the key priority for the customer.
- More than 60% of the current crude oil production comes from mature oilfields, including onshore and shallow water. This, coupled with low breakeven prices in offshore oil and gas sector, has compelled the producers to shift to deepwater and ultra-deepwater resources. This factor is encouraging the industry to step up its expenditure gradually in the future.
- Deepwater oil production is majorly concentrated in four countries - Angola, Brazil, Nigeria, and the United States. The Libra field in Brazil, the largest pre-salt discovery so far, began producing in late 2017 and the field development is expected to continue till 2020s.
- The expandable liner hanger system is preferred for deepwater well completion and is designed for applications where long and heavy liners must be deployed in challenging environments, including deepwater, extended reach, and HP/HT wells.
- In September 2018, Halliburton announced the deployment of its XtremeGrip liner hanger system at a depth of 30,924 ft in the Gulf of Mexico Hess-operated Stampede deepwater development. With the advent of such deepwater liner hanger technologies, the market is likely to witness a shift from shallow water to deepwater production.
Asia-Pacific to Witness the Fastest Growth
- The Asia-Pacific region is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period, with China being by far the largest market. In response to President Xi Jinping's call, in August 2017, to expedite domestic exploration and production activities (particularly for natural gas) to improve energy security, several companies, such as CNOOC, CNPC, and Sinopec, are set to increase their capital expenditure in exploration, development, and production activities. This will mean a significant boost to businesses for liner hanger systems, in the coming years.
- In addition, the Chinese government is also undertaking significant favorable reforms to boost international participation in the oil and gas sector. As a critical part of the country's 13th five-year plan, the opening up of more acreage to independent participants is expected to diversify investments and increase drilling and completion activities, in turn, driving the liner hanger systems market in the country.
- Furthermore, in India, large new field developments in deepwater are expected to be the key drivers for growth in the Indian liner hanger system market. In April 2018, BP and Reliance Industries sanctioned the 2nd phase development of the 'Satellite cluster' project, located in the Bay of Bengal.
- The companies in India are moving forward to develop the discovered deepwater gas fields in an integrated series of projects, and are expecting to produce 1 bcf/d, phased over 2020-22. Similar interests are being undertaken in other offshore fields as well, which are expected to result in the country witnessing greater demand for the expandable form of liner hangers in the long run.
- Other developing markets, such as Indonesia, and Australia, are also expected to contribute to the market growth in the region.