The global oil spill management market is expected to increase significantly over the next eight years on account of stringent environment & safety norms and government directions to comply with the norms. Rising transportation of crude oil and chemicals through pipelines and sea is expected to drive oil spill management demand. Moreover, increasing oil spill incidents over the last few years has resulted in the adoption of oil spill management, which in turn will augment industry growth. Increasing spending on research & development by key players to provide efficient and rapid spill cleaning will open new growth opportunities over the upcoming years. An oil spill is a form of pollution that is caused owing to human activities, especially in oil and gas exploration sites. Oil spill management is required to mitigate the harmful effects of the liquid petroleum hydrocarbons released into the environment. However, availability of skilled labour coupled with high capital investments is expected to pose the major challenge for market growth.
On the basis of technology, the industry is segmented into pre-oil spill management and post-oil spill management. Rising demand for pre-oil spill management as it minimizes or prevents the leakage will propel market growth. High occurrences of oil spills will increase usage of post-oil spill management as they clean and restores the spillage. Pre-oil spill management consists of three methods including double hull, blowout preventers and leak detection in pipelines. Post-oil spill management consists of mechanical, physical, chemical and biological methods to mitigate an oil spill. Stringent government norms on oil spillage along with increasing drilling activities are expected to stimulate blowout preventers demand in the near future. Ships with double hull design have been made compulsory in oil transportation by International Maritime Organization (IMO), which will promote product demand.
On the basis of product, the industry is segmented into onshore spill management and offshore spill management. Onshore spill management is done in oil rigs present on the land whereas offshore spill management is done in oil rigs present in the sea.
North America was the dominant market on account of large oil & gas reserves and production along with the technological advancements primarily in the U.S. MEA will witness significant growth over the forecast period in light of upcoming oil & gas exploration projects mainly in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Europe is expected to show lucrative growth owing to the presence of large oil & gas companies in Russia. Asia Pacific will witness growth primarily in the pre-oil spill management sector as a result of rising oil & gas exploration and production activities in China, Australia, South Korea and India. In addition, growing shipping industry in China, Japan and South will create immense market potential over the forecast period. Oil spill accidents have occurred in the past and lead to huge losses. This has resulted in the demand for double-hulled ships. Major oil spill cases are Kuwaiti Oil fires (1991), Kuwaiti Oil Lakes (1991), Gulf War Oil spill (1991), Lakeview Gusher (1910), Deepwater Horizon (2010), and Ixtoc I (1979). Increasing government investment and availability of skilled labour will have a positive impact on industry expansion. Innovation and R&D will result in reduction in cost and investments, which will open new market avenues.
Key market participants include American Green Ventures Inc., National Oilwell Varco, Skim Oil Inc., Cameron International Corporation, Oil Spill Response Limited, Control Flow Inc., Fender and Spill Response System, OMI Environmental Solutions, GE Oil & Gas, Spill Response Services, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., COSCO Shipyard Group Co. Ltd, CURA Emergency Services, Osprey Spill Control, Lamor Corporation and ACME Environmental.
In 2015, American Green Ventures Inc. announced the availability of organic absorbents (SpillFix) in U.S. and Canada. This absorbs liquid spills (oil, solvents, fuel, chemicals and paints) instantly. Skim Oil Inc. offers floating oil skimmers, oil water separators, and evaporators which are used for post-oil spill management. CURA Emergency Services has been producing absorbents and custom spill kits which are used for spill clean-up.
