ABSTRACT
Driven by low selling prices, high production costs and the development of new onshore exploitation techniques, offshore oil and gas activities are experiencing a significant decline. The European sector is mainly composed of private companies that operate mostly at the global scale. However, the production from its territorial waters accounts for 9% and 13% respectively of the total oil and gas consumption in Europe, respectively. Thus, this decline can undermine the energy interests of the EU and especially, the economic activity of the North Sea countries (responsible for the production of virtually all of the oil and more than 80% of the gas).
Despite this negative outlook, the development of new and more efficient subsea exploitation systems can provide an important boost to the sector. However, in a Blue Growth context, the main importance of this industry relies on its important legacy of infrastructure, knowledge and experience (skills, business models, concepts of permanent occupation of the marine environment, etc.).
With this in mind, this chapter describes the main features of the offshore oil and gas industry along with the opportunities and barriers that it presents for the development of Blue Growth and MUS/MUP concepts.
