Deepwater emerges from its slumber

The post-2014 investment decline can be fully arrested if processes are standardised and regulators become more responsive

A decline in deepwater investment could be halted through a combination of cost control, the standardisation of requirements, and local regulators becoming more flexible, delegates heard at the annual meeting of energy technology heavyweight Baker Hughes in Florence on Tuesday. The long development times—and therefore delay in return on investment—associated with deepwater projects have become particularly problematic since the oil price crash of 2014, but industry leaders are applying innovative approaches with the aim of overcome financial barriers. "We need to be able to develop fields in deepwater much faster than we have done, and to be much more proactive than we have been in the past,