In this issue

Welcome to the new edition of Offshore Technology Focus. 

In this issue, the effects of 2020 on the offshore industry have done little to slow the growth of a massive offshore oil boom in South America. Brazil is now the world’s tenth-largest oil producer; Guyana’s industry is gaining momentum and Suriname is not far behind. We look at how South America’s industry has resisted the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic, and what’s next for the potentially prosperous oil region.

Elsewhere, when the world turns against your product, how do you start a conversation? Marketers who work for the biggest oil and gas firms answer: how has marketing for O&G changed during the green revolution, and what does a good marketing firm do to rise to the challenge? What draws the eye and gains clicks, and what do they think of some of the largest O&G marketing faux pas from recent years?

Lastly, in February, plans were finally made to allow five workers who had been stranded on an oil tanker, return home after four years at sea. The crew have endured what The Guardian called a “living hell”, which included three years without pay and their ship running aground. The incident has shone a harsh spotlight on the treatment of workers in the oil industry; we ask what could come of the event, and what, if anything, it could change in the sector.

For all this and more, read on.

Callum Tyndall, editor