Courtesy of Rovco
SUBSEA SERVICES AND
THE RUSH TO RENEWABLES
Moray Melhuish, Commercial Consultant, and former Director of ROV Service Company ROVOP
It was not so long ago that the offshore wind sector was shunned by major subsea service providers. That may now seem like a distant memory, but during buoyant times – when the oil price was high and activity levels were good – the installation of offshore wind turbines was viewed with derision by many.
There were notable exceptions of course. ROV services provider ROVOP focused on offshore wind from the start, using the industry to grow and prove its systems before diversifying into oil and gas. Trenching contractors such as Canyon were kept busy supporting cable installation, and survey outfits such as Fugro deployed their survey expertise, irrespective of the industry.
How things have changed. The 2015-2016 oil price slump forced the hydrocarbon supply chain to look elsewhere for utilisation. This began a trend which gained even more impetus following the 2020 collapse in demand resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
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