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Most of their work is many year long massive projects that are probably very mature. Possibly most of the engineering work is done, a lot of the manufacturing is done etc. They probably have a YUGE hole in their front end areas like the project guys and the engineering guys.
Exactly. A significant portion may even be done except for some final invoicing. The other factor is that a lot of companies put a freeze on offshore development projects during the bust that they are just now thinking about returning to. So it's not only that there is nothing that's come in lately but also nothing on the immediate horizon. So if you "buy" the work, you keep your abilities and are ready to go once the rebound happens. That's pretty critical because whoever seizes the front end of build cycle usually carries the momentum through to get the lion's share of the work. No one wants to be first to the market but everyone wants to be second. They also want to use whoever everyone else is using.
That being said it seems like half the time when a salesman loses an order it's because the other guy took it at a loss. Or at least that's the story of the guy that didn't get the order.
*Note - I do not work for OneSubsea nor any of their competitors. Well, not directly a competitor. I'm not really sure all that we do.