The offshore industry should enjoy steady growth during the next five years, and longer-term prospects are equally bright, says Douglas-Westwood Ltd., a U.K.-based business research firm. Worldwide, more than 2,300 offshore fields are being considered for development; if all projects go forward, more than 1,500 fixed platforms and 230 floating production systems would be required. The most robust growth will center in the deepwater hotspots of Brazil, West Africa and the Gulf of Mexico, where the major oil companies are dominant. Regions such as the North Sea, where reserve sizes of new discoveries are quite small, will remain attractive to small operators. Douglas-Westwood expects strong growth in four key sectors during the next five years: • Offshore pipelines. An increase in the use of subsea technology, a continuing movement into deeper waters, and more long-distance gas transmission projects all translate into a need for some 45,000 kilometers of offshore pipelines. Total capital cost is estimated at $54 billion, up 44% from the past five years. • Subsea production. About 1,600 subsea wells are expected to come onstream during the next five years. Including the associated flowlines, templates, manifolds, control systems and umbilicals, expenditures should total almost $48 billion, up 50%. • Floating production systems. Including newbuilds, conversions and upgrades, 134 floaters are likely to be installed at a capital cost of $32 billion, up 50%. • Deep water. This sector is likely to continue its impressive growth as operators continue to invest billions. Preliminary indications are that global deepwater activity could double during the next five years. In the longer term, the industry will begin to commercialize some of the immense stranded gas fields that lie in offshore locations. These offer good prospects for development via floating liquid natural gas and floating gas-to-liquids plants. Further out is the development of offshore renewable energy. Douglas-Westwood says that research currently under way indicates that more than $4.3 billion will be spent on offshore renewable energy installations in this decade. Such projects include offshore wind farms, tidal stream turbines and wave energy devices.