The offshore oil supply industry

On the other side of the market from the oil companies are the offshore oil supply firms. The nature of ownership and economic relationships between these two groups of firms and the internationalization ¹ of the offshore oil supply industry itself will be discussed in this and the next chapter.

Here we describe the main ownership and locational features of the internationalized offshore oil supply industry. To set the scene, five of these features may be described as follows:

the widespread use in virtually all oil provinces of affiliated ² companies;

the dominance, measured by market shares and geographic spread, of American multinational corporations in the industry's technological core;

the distinction that exists between those affiliates that provide offshore oil supply services and those that are really only marketing outlets for tools and equipment which are mainly produced by firms in America;

the American companies’ maintenance over the long term of their dominant positions; and

the limited appearance of non-American multinational firms in the core of the offshore supplies industry.