With little signs of a pick-up in newbuild rig orders, shipyards in Asia are turning to other offshore projects to ride out the market doldrums. Years of optimism in the Asian newbuild rig market has been shaken, with major petroleum companies reducing capital spending in line with the decline in oil prices, which have shown little signs of recovering from its descent below $100 a barrel since the second half of 2014. Asian shipyards, whose revenues have shrunk due to the weakness in global oil prices which in turn has led to a slowdown in newbuild rig orders, are looking elsewhere for fresh business opportunities covering floating production and offshore vessels. Vanishing Rig Orders The adverse impact of lower oil prices, with U.S. West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude oil futures falling by around 40 percent since September 2014, was felt almost immediately by Asian rig builders – newbuild […]