Sales of medium-voltage drives to the oil and gas industry will outpace the market in 2011, due mainly to the high oil prices in 2010 and early 2011, which have led to increased investment in production capacity, says a new study from IMS Research.

In the first half of 2011, oil prices were $85–110 per barrel, providing a significant catalyst for the MV drives market. IMS predicts that global sales of MV drives to the oil and gas industry will grow by more than 20% in 2011. However IMS analyst Jenalea Howell expects the growth rate to slow, “due to the difficulties of sustaining such high growth and, more importantly, high oil prices.”

IMS predicts that MV drives revenues from the oil and gas sector will grow at an average annual rate of 17.1% from 2010 to 2015.