Introduction
The energy market has been one of the key drivers of human progress over the last few centuries. With the discovery of oil and gas, both land-based and offshore wells have been surveyed, extracted, and processed. Extracting these natural resources offshore poses a number of challenges. Billions of dollars are invested in vessels, machinery, personnel, technology, and communications to survey offshore sites, drill, and extract hydrocarbons from below the seabed.
Earlier this month, TotalEnergies, a French energy company, leased Noble’s Viking drillship to a well off the coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG). The contract will last 47 days and reportedly amount to an estimated value of $34.2 million. On an annual pro-rata basis, this is more than $265 million for one rig.
Noble owns around 40 rigs. A typical day rate for a modern drillship has varied from $200,000 a day a few years ago to nearly $600,000 a day today. This industry is international and almost completely a free market, so sophisticated rigs built less than five years ago at a cost of $600 million or more can end up being scrapped as market demand fluctuates. This has a profound knock-on effect for base-line suppliers such as communications companies.
Based on the above, it’s easy to see why energy operators don’t hesitate to spend $50,000 to $100,000 per month on connectivity technologies for their drilling, production, and service vessels.
Almost all these rigs, platforms and vessels will have some form of cellular mobile services, fibre (North Sea and Gulf of Mexico), or even microwave transmission (North Sea and Brazil). Nevertheless, all these vessels and assets are equipped with satellite connectivity capabilities.
The nature of the offshore energy sector, particularly for oil and gas, means that companies often explore for resources in very remote areas around the world, sometimes in extremely harsh climates. A good example is the North Sea; however, some might argue that oil fields off the west coast of Africa or those in Brazil are equally challenging. Very soon, we might see the Arctic opening up for those willing to brave the conditions and opprobrium. The island of Svalbard is becoming a crucial accessibility point.
This mix of energy generation is changing, and we will likely see more demand for service and support vessels for offshore wind, solar and other green technologies.
Valour Consultancy anticipates that nearly $650 million will be spent on satellite connectivity services for the global offshore energy market in 2025.
The Lingo, Rigs, Platforms, Service & Support
Terminologies can be puzzling, sometimes even obscure, in every industry. The offshore energy industry is no different.
For instance, the initial start of a well is called “Spudding In”, although nobody has actually spudded in for over 100 years as it refers to the old wooden drilling system, before rotary drills, when a sharp weighted metal tool was repeatedly lifted and dropped to start the bore hole.
The “Catwalk” has no cats but refers to a cathead windlass that pulls drill pipe from said platform up to the drill floor and the “Doghouse” has no dogs, it is a shed behind the draw works where the crew would take a break.
Rigs can be drill ships, jack ups, or semi-submersibles. Platforms are typically assets fixed to the seabed; however, this is not always the case. Different wells (site for drilling oil or gas), water depths, and technologies dictate the rig or platform used.
Offshore energy drilling can be categorised into two segments: shallow water and deep water.
A good way to understand this is that Jackups are typically only used in shallow water, while drill ships and semi-submersibles are used in deep water.
The connectivity demand depends on the location, depth of water, lifecycle of oil and gas well, and terrain of the shore (if nearby).
Ultimately, connectivity options, alternatives, and clear differentiators determine a market price for a commodity (connectivity service).
For example, to implement microwave transmission (point-to-point radio), the adjacent shore to the offshore operation typically needs a big hill or mountain to create a suitable trajectory for the microwave transponder to be placed upon.
Carrying said 2.4-metres antenna hardware kit up a big hill can be gruelling, though.
For example, Tampnet utilises its microwave connectivity technology on the Dutch Continental Shelf, covering approximately 110 offshore installations via a network of offshore microwave links and fibre network.
In our latest report – “Deep Dive: Offshore Energy”, we estimated more than 120 drillships active globally in 2025. In addition, there are nearly a hundred semi-submersibles active, several hundred jackups, and FPSOs.
Add on a further several thousand fixed platforms (immobile drilling/production), worldwide. These are usually well-established wells that have been producing for several years.
Finally, there are a cohort of thousands of offshore energy service and support vessels . Some are designed and specialised for offshore energy purposes, or others are quickly adapted from merchant vessels for energy operators’ needs.
This category of service and support vessel types can range from accommodation purposes, multi-purpose construction, survey, tug, seismic discovery, or even, subsea cabling purposes.
Valour Consultancy believes the growing number of service and support vessels amounts to the largest opportunity for satellite connectivity, airtime, hardware, and other services over the next ten years.
Key Regions
As offshore energy markets continue to grow in scale and complexity, the demand for robust, high-bandwidth connectivity is accelerating across every major production region.
From deepwater oil and gas installations to floating wind projects, operators are relying more heavily on real-time data transfer, remote monitoring, and cloud-based applications.
The African offshore market shows steady vessel growth, fuelled primarily by exploration off the coasts of Nigeria, Angola, Ghana, and Senegal. Deepwater projects in Angola, led by TotalEnergies, Eni, and Chevron, are a major growth driver. Furthermore, Nigeria continues to be a key player, albeit challenged by regulatory and security constraints, with Shell, ExxonMobil, and Seplat Energy investing in brownfield upgrades and new offshore tiebacks.
The biggest growth in active assets and vessels projected to be in the Central and South Americas region, nearly 1,000 active rigs, platforms and vessels in 2025 and is anticipated to grow strongly over the next ten years.
Brazil is the undisputed heavyweight, home to the prolific pre-salt fields operated by Petrobras, in partnership with Shell, Equinor, TotalEnergies, and CNPC. Petrobras alone operates more than 50 offshore platforms, many of which are undergoing digital retrofitting.
The demand for high-throughput connectivity is driven by real-time seismic data processing, production surveillance, and enhanced safety systems.
In Europe, or the North Sea, prominently, we foresee the number of assets and vessels to increase with new sites off the west coast of the Shetlands.
The North Sea remains Europe’s offshore nucleus, with the UK, Norway, and the Netherlands driving activity. Major operators like Equinor, BP, Shell, and Aker BP are investing in hydrocarbons and offshore wind and carbon capture infrastructure.
Tampnet, the Norwegian service provider has catered to the North Sea and North America offshore energy markets for many years, with a wide portfolio of services: cellular, microwave, fibre and also LEO broadband, relatively recently.
Although it would be assumed that the UK and some of Europe’s prominent nations agreeing to a net-zero emissions commitment in the not so distant future would limit exploration and production in the North Sea. However, there has been a noted acceleration of investment into floating wind and hybrid energy platforms. These new platforms also require seamless, high-capacity connectivity to support remote monitoring, autonomous systems, and integrated power grid communications. Viasat Energy and Marlink, both report active deployments of SES’s MEO system in the region, helping operators maintain an always-on data access for predictive maintenance and emissions monitoring.
Valour Consultancy estimated that the European offshore energy satellite connectivity service revenues amounted to $140 million in 2024.
Looking at other offshore energy operators, ExxonMobil is expanding its operations in the Gulf of Mexico, with significant investments in projects like the Yellowtail and Redtail oilfields. The company is also focusing on enhancing its technological capabilities to improve exploration and production efficiency. Furthermore, BOE is a deepwater-focused operator in the Gulf of Mexico, emphasising low-carbon intensity production. The company has invested in advanced technologies and infrastructure to optimise its offshore operations.
The complexity and scale of operations in the Gulf of Mexico necessitate robust and reliable connectivity solutions. Operators are increasingly adopting high-throughput satellite systems, including LEO and MEO constellations, to support real-time data transmission, remote monitoring, and enhanced safety protocols.
It should be noted that in the mature energy markets, such as Gulf of Mexico and North Sea, there are alternative connectivity solutions such as fibre, cellular and microwave transmission in these regions.
Offshore energy activity in the Asia-Pacific region is anticipated to grow in the next ten years. The number of vessels will increase in Southeast Asia, Australia, and parts of India, dominating offshore production. Earlier in the piece, we highlight Noble’s Viking drillship being relocated from Malaysia (leased by Prime Energy) to PNG (TotalEnergies).
Petronas, PTT Exploration and Production, Woodside Energy, ONGC, and Chevron are all key players. Australia’s North West Shelf and new LNG projects continue to drive significant offshore activity. Satellite connectivity growth is particularly pronounced in Asia due to a combination of ageing infrastructure within the region whilst trying to implement consistent digital transformation efforts. Viasat Energy Services has deployed SES’s O3b mPOWER MEO system to support vessels operating in the region, while Speedcast is actively partnering with Starlink and Eutelsat OneWeb LEO connections for faster bandwidth speeds on production platforms and support vessels.
Outside of the traditional offshore markets, the region also sees strong growth in offshore renewables, particularly floating solar and wind in Taiwan, South Korea, and Japanese markets known for early technology adoption and robust government incentives for low-carbon energy.
In the Middle East, offshore energy activity is predicted to remain relatively consistent. Offshore production is concentrated in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, and Iran. Saudi Aramco and QatarEnergy are leading long-term offshore field developments like Safaniya (world’s largest offshore oil field) and the North Field expansion.
ADNOC in the UAE is increasingly digitising its offshore operations to enhance energy efficiency and emissions reporting. Connectivity demand is driven by real-time reservoir management and remote drilling support. The Middle East tends to favour private LTE networks and high-end GEO VSAT solutions, but MEO and LEO are being explored to complement coverage. Some of the previous prohibitions of LEO services in the region have limited the implementation of the technology in the area.
However, to caveat all these points, geo political events can change matters very quickly. As the recent Middle East conflict escalates, oil prices begin to surge and it is likely we will see Iran weaponise the control of the Red Sea (Straits of Hormuz) through which a good portion of the world’s oil and LNG flows. Combine this with potential jamming capabilities and sabotage of energy infrastructure assets and circumstances, pricing and dynamics can change drastically.
LEO/MEO
When speaking to some of the smaller satellite service providers serving the offshore energy market, companies such as Clarus Networks note LEO broadband connectivity has made satellite connectivity a must for all drillships, jackups, and other drilling or production types. Sometimes, cellular connectivity can become congested in the North Sea, fibre connectivity, very expensive, and LEO services make connectivity convenient, accessible and cost effective for operators.
In our analysis, 88% of offshore vessels, with existing satellite services, will also have LEO broadband capabilities by the end of 2025*
Overall Satellite Services
While MSS remains a backbone for basic comms, security and safety services, there has been a clear transition towards higher-capacity solutions, over the last ten years. This has been GEO VSAT, and today, it is to MEO and LEO broadband connectivity services.
These enable lower latency and support data-intensive offshore operations, particularly in regions with mature digital infrastructure, such as the North Sea or Gulf of Mexico, or ambitious net-zero agendas.
Nevertheless, we still foresee healthy demand for GEO VSAT capacity for offshore energy operators. We anticipated satellite connectivity for GEO VSAT to amount to more than $330 million in 2025, worldwide.
Conclusion
The offshore energy market is simultaneously robust and frail. Its capabilities and mobile nature mean that there is generally always a market somewhere but it is extremely sensitive to oil price fluctuations. The majors can be very severe with contract negotiations and exploration and production companies with their many dependent contractors have a very narrow path to walk. But when the going gets good, the opportunity for profit is great. This means that communication companies, especially satellite operators have to be very agile with their pricing, flexibility of offerings and speed of action.
It is not for the faint-hearted and long term contracts can always get them into trouble.
The demand is ever-increasing as are the costs for maintaining LEO, MEO and GEO satellites and ground stations. Rather than yearly or time-based contracts, there may be room for contracts-based activity which means that the income for satellite and cellular operators becomes far more variable. For more information in our latest report on the global offshore energy market, click here.
