Industry Insights
Based on public industry reports, an overview of the deep-sea exploration market, its key bottlenecks, and emerging technological trends.
Deep-Sea Resource Outlook (Public Data)
USD 95 trillion
Total value of deep-sea oil and gas resources (public reports)
USD 81 trillion
Estimated value of deep-sea metal resources (nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese, etc.; based on public reports)
USD 2.5 trillion
2026–2035 Global Offshore Oil & Gas Cumulative Capital Expenditure (Estimated)
16×
Deep-water new-discovery reserves multiple relative to onshore (public reports)
Source: Public reports from UBS and other institutions for reference only.
Industry Challenges and Our Solution
Conventional OBN Limitations
- —Traditional ocean-bottom node (OBN) exploration relies heavily on remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) for single-node deployment and recovery, leading to long per-node operation cycles.
- —ROV operations rely on umbilical cables; efficiency decreases with depth, and equipment loss or cable entanglement incidents are common.
- —Industry analysis shows that in projects with 10,000+ nodes, deployment and recovery can account for 40%–60% of total cost, limiting the industrialization of deep-sea exploration.
Mobula Node Approach
- —Cable-free autonomous deployment: Nodes use their autonomous micro-propulsion system to fly underwater and land precisely after being released in bulk from the mother ship.
- —Automatic Recovery: Upon mission completion, the intelligent buoyancy system automatically releases the unit from the seabed for ascent, enabling batch recovery by the mother vessel.
- —ROV-free operations are expected to boost operational efficiency by over 50% (design target), lowering vessel-time costs and reducing the risk of equipment loss.
Market Trends
Deep-Sea Oil and Gas Exploration
Deep-water new-discovery reserves continue to grow; cumulative capital expenditure from 2026 to 2035 is estimated at USD 2.5 trillion, with rigid demand and strong willingness to pay.
Deep-Sea Mineral Exploration
Rising demand for surveys of strategic resources like polymetallic nodules is driving upgrades to exploration equipment, bringing the commercialization inflection point for deep-sea mining closer.
CCUS Carbon Sequestration Monitoring
Offshore carbon-storage projects are growing, and time-lapse seismic monitoring is now a mandatory requirement across the entire value chain, driven by increasing policy certainty.
Offshore Wind Power
Offshore wind is moving into deeper waters; site surveys, foundation monitoring, and O&M require the same technical expertise as oil and gas exploration.