Subsea sector urged to act now to profit from energy transition

The subsea industry must act now to capitalize on the energy transition as the road to net zero is already underway and companies need to meet the change of pace required, according to Tom Heggarty, principal analyst in Wood Mackenzie’s Energy Transition Practice.

Opportunities include facilitating the growth of the offshore wind market by supporting the installation of turbines, the construction of offshore substations, and transferring power back to shore using subsea cabling. 

Further opportunities exist in emerging technologies such as green hydrogen, which could potentially be produced offshore and piped back to land, and in carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS), which requires subsea infrastructure to transport it to depleted oil fields for storage once captured onshore.

According to Heggarty, momentum has been gathering around decarbonization in the UK and globally over the past two years, the pressures to get to net zero are only going to accelerate and the companies that will be best placed to capitalize will be the ones who are looking at what they can do now.  

“The energy transition is not something that’s going to need addressing in five to ten years’ time, we’re going to see more demand for developing technologies to support decarbonisation and subsea companies, who are well positioned to play an important role here, need to understand what’s coming and take advantage of it today,” Heggarty added.

Subsea UK is holding an event at the end of May where it will be discussed how the subsea supply chain can maximize the potential of the energy transition.

Global opportunities will be a focus, with insights into emerging markets, regions of future interest and how the industry can make in-roads in global sectors such as offshore wind.  

“The subsea industry, with its roots in oil and gas, a strong foothold in offshore wind and massive potential in other segments of the blue economy, has the capability to become one of the UK’s fastest-growing, high value industries of the future, contributing not only to economic recovery but, crucially, to delivery of our net-zero targets,” said Neil Gordon, Subsea UK CEO.