Subsea UK has revealed the UK's subsea industry is now worth almost £9bn.

According to the industry body's latest business activity review, the UK now has 45% of the £20bn global market.

In a survey of more than 750 companies throughout the supply chain, 16,000 new jobs have been created in the sector since 2010, with another 10,000 - the majority in Scotland - in the pipeline.

Of the direct subsea workforce, 48% work in services such as engineering, construction and diving, while manufacturing accounts for 19% of the 53,000 jobs.

Almost half of respondents said they anticipated growth in excess of 20% in the next three years with 28% predicting to grow by 10%-20%. Only 1% predicted less than 10% growth and a further 28% forecasted no growth.

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If these forecasts are achieved, Subsea UK says the sector could grow to £11.1bn by 2016.

Neil Gordon, Chief Executive of Subsea UK, said: "These findings are further proof of the success, dynamism and sustained growth potential of subsea. Not only has our sector out-performed any other in the UK, it has improved its global position and now dominates with an impressive 45% of the global market, despite a faltering economic climate.

"The increase in activity in the North Sea has played a major factor in this continued growth but exports remain high, accounting for 43% of total revenues.

"Subsea has become increasingly important to the upstream energy sector, both in terms of developing and stimulating further investment in the UKCS and in growing the UK's export base.

"Extracting the remaining world's reserves will increasingly fall to the subsea industry – already almost 45% of UKCS production comes from subsea wells with 70% of new developments planned. It is therefore of vital importance to the security of the world's energy supply."

The export of subsea goods and services is valued at £4.3bn with engineering and manufacturing companies generating just over 25% and service providers accounting for 26% of these revenues. More than 75% of the total revenues are generated in the North-east of Scotland with exports from this region accounting for 70% of their output.

(JP/CD)