Confidence within the UK’s oil and gas industry is steadily increasing, according to trade body Oil & Gas UK’s latest business index.
The body said an analysis of data gathered last month revealed the sector has progressed further into “positive territory.”
While the confidence of industry operators remained steady but unchanged since the last quarter, the results show the gradual rise in overall optimism is being driven by contractors.
Oonagh Werngren, Oil & Gas UK’s operations director, said: “The rising confidence within the contractor sector suggests the tax changes introduced by the Government last year to incentivise investment in the UK Continental shelf are now bearing fruit.
“With operators investing around £11.4 billion in 2012, supply chain companies which perform essential functions supplying parts and specialist services and equipment to the operators are experiencing increasing demand for their services.”
The most significant rise in confidence came from the marine and subsea sector, closely followed by facilities engineering, operations and maintenance.
Within the operator community it is the majors that remain most optimistic, while independents reported a two-point fall in positivity.
According to the trade body, this suggests the majors have the resources to make the most of the favourable business environment created by the tax changes last year, while smaller companies are finding access to finance and resources such as drilling rigs are factors constraining their growth.
Ms Werngren said: “The challenge of recruiting and retaining skilled staff, while also accommodating increasing operation costs, emerges as a recurrent theme in feedback from the majority of companies surveyed for the index and suggests that this is exerting a steadying influence on the rising wave of optimism in the industry.”