Welcome to this first blog from our shophouse desk.
Why a blog you may ask, well, there are many excellent reports produced by various reputable organisations within our field and we decided that something a little less quantitative might provide an opportunity to deliver some "lighter" moments.
It will be irregular (almost definitely) irreverent (possibly) irrelevant (we hope not), and we hope that you will entertain us with your contributions, not necessarily on the offshore business, but possibly on what you can see (or hear) from your own desk.
Just like banking and construction, we now seem to be post what appeared to be an unburstable bubble, and of course, conventional shipping is already deep into troubled waters. The difference for our sector would appear to be high level of confidence that the better times will return in a relatively short space of time, say 12-24 months.
Time will tell, but if we assume that the supply/demand predictions for oil & gas are even relatively close, then we'll be back drilling holes, surveying seabeds and constructing things offshore as soon as people get back in their gas guzzlers.
The one thing that is almost certain to happen is that there will be casualties before the good times roll again. Never has the industry been so highly geared, and never has it had so many new, expensive toys to pay for. You can hear the balance sheets straining for miles!
The weakest will almost undoubtedly fall, and consolidation will follow, but is this Darwinian solution necessarily a bad thing? Probably not.