FINANCIERS have said they will invest $150million (£100m) in a subsea engineering firm that aims to build a big North Sea business, signalling confidence in the prospects for the area in spite of the oil price plunge.
HitecVision, the Norwegian private equity firm, has committed the funding to support the development of a new venture called Underwater Integrity Solutions (UIS).
The company will use acquisitions to help build a business that supports North Sea oil and gas companies, which will be run out of Aberdeen. It will also target work in the Gulf of Mexico from a base in Houston, Texas.
HitecVision has made the commitment in the face of predictions the industry faces a long downturn following the slump in the price of oil since June.
The chief executive of UIS, Bill Boyle, said it should benefit from efforts by oil and gas firms to cut costs in response to the price fall.
"Today, there is a need to significantly reduce subsea operating costs and increase efficiency and hence value from subsea fields," said Mr Boyle.
He noted the company is focused on helping firms to maintain existing subsea facilities rather than to develop new assets.
A veteran of Scotland's oil services industry, Mr Boyle said firms have put huge amounts of production equipment on the seabed in areas like the North Sea in recent years to cut costs. Much of the kit is ageing.
He highlighted the trend for firms to increase activity in deeper water and in more hostile environments as fields in established areas run dry.
"There are about 5,000 operational subsea wells around the world with almost 7,000 predicted by 2020," said Mr Boyle.
The new firm expects to capitalise on the trend among oil and gas firms to cut the number of suppliers they work with in the hope of boosting efficiency.
It plans to develop a broad range of services by acquiring small and medium sized enterprises that provide specialised services in what is a fragmented sector, and by forming strategic partnerships.
Mr Boyle said the firm could find suitable targets in the Westhill area of Aberdeenshire, which he described as a global centre of subsea engineering excellence.
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