Low oil and gas prices are continuing to restrict the petroleum industry’s development of exploration and production infrastructure, but the need to deliver affordable liquefied natural gas (LNG) and other fuels to economic centers will boost prospects for pipeline and other distribution infrastructure investments in Asia and other regions. Energy-rich Russia, for instance, is seeking to develop numerous pipelines into Asia and other areas.
Firms working in the sector anticipate a robust market for engineering and construction services. Of the petroleum-sector representatives surveyed as part of a Black & Veatch report, published in October, on the natural-gas industry, nearly 70% characterized themselves as “optimistic” or “very optimistic” about future growth in the global oil-and-gas industry.