(Bloomberg) — For many Asian shipyards, 2015 was a brutal yr. This yr may very well be even worse.

With oil costs forecast to fall as little as $15 a barrel and China’s development slowing, orders for offshore tasks and new vessels are onerous to return by for Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. and Samsung Heavy Industries Co., the world’s three greatest shipbuilders. As the trade struggles with overcapacity and low charges, clients have been pushing again supply schedules or canceling orders outright, a development more likely to proceed this yr.

“Nobody is ordering new rigs,” mentioned Lee Yue Jer, a Singapore-based analyst at RHB Securities Pte. “We’re still at the worst” level of the cycle.

A troubled foray into constructing offshore rigs ballooned the money owed of the Big Three, pushing them into losses and sending their shares down for a second consecutive yr in 2015. The troubles for South Korean builders now are spreading to their rivals in Japan, China and Singapore, as a number of shipbuilders and offshore-platform makers warn of losses amid slumping oil costs.

The robust occasions have hit the businesses’ share costs. Daewoo Shipbuilding was the worst performing inventory final yr on the Kospi 200 index in Seoul, falling 73 %. Sembcorp Marine Ltd. dropped 46 %, the second-worst on Singapore’s Straits Times Index, and IHI Corp. declined 45 %, making it the fourth-worst on the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo.

Shares of Hyundai Heavy fell 2.6 % Monday in Seoul to 85,500 received, their lowest value since August. Daewoo Shipbuilding fell 1.5 %, whereas Sembcorp Marine dropped 1.7 % in Singapore.

Sembcorp Marine, the second-biggest builder of oil rigs, expects to put up a loss within the fourth quarter, its first for the reason that firm began reporting three-month earnings in 2003. Cosco Corp. Singapore Ltd., the shipbuilding arm of China Ocean Shipping Group, forecast a “significant” web loss in the identical interval.

Crude oil surged immediately after Saudi Arabia lower diplomatic ties with Iran amid escalating pressure between the regional powers, buoying power shares. West Texas Intermediate rose 2.4 % to $37.84 a barrel.

Daewoo Shipbuilding, the second-largest shipyard, is poised to report its biggest-ever loss in 2015 after writing off prices from order cancellations and delays in delivering offshore drilling rigs. Hyundai Heavy and Samsung Heavy Industries Co. posted losses within the first 9 months of 2015.

“The shipbuilding environment will probably be more challenging next year, although we expect some orders from Iran once sanctions are lifted,” Daewoo Shipbuilding mentioned in an e- mail on Dec. 31. “The offshore business will also face hardship as well next year unless oil prices rebound. On earnings, we expect a big improvement for next year.”

Daewoo Shipbuilding mentioned Dec. 31 it’s in discussions with two clients to push again supply dates for 4 drill ships, which have been scheduled to be handed over on the finish of 2015.

Hyundai Heavy Chairman Choi Kil Seon warned of worries forward in a Dec. 31 letter to workers.

“While most of the problematic projects are in the final stages of construction, there are still uncertainties,” he wrote. “The drop in oil prices, interest rate increase in the U.S., slowing economic growth in China will mean restructuring for all industries.”

Hyundai Heavy goals to win $19.5 billion of orders this yr for all its companies, together with for ships, offshore models, building tasks and heavy gear, in accordance with a regulatory submitting Monday. It didn’t give a goal breakdown for particular person divisions or comparative figures for 2015. In the primary 11 months of final yr, it obtained $13.8 billion in new contracts, together with $1.2 billion for offshore operations.

Samsung Heavy will attempt to enhance its competitiveness by analysis and growth, in accordance with an e-mailed assertion Monday. “Not all companies collapse because there’s a crisis,” the corporate’s Chief Executive Officer Park Dae Young mentioned within the assertion. “We need to aggressively try to find hidden opportunities in crisis.”

The South Korean authorities plans to work with banks to arrange a $1.2 billion fund to assist native transport firms pay for brand spanking new vessels they’ve ordered, in accordance with the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. The authorities additionally will push shipyards to downsize and concentrate on their core companies, and can search to shut or promote these that may’t survive on their very own.

Elsewhere, a variety of Japanese shipyards have lowered earnings forecasts to mirror losses from shipbuilding. IHI Corp., co-owner of Japan’s second-largest shipbuilder, in August lowered its web earnings goal for the yr ending in March, partly due to elevated bills for a Singapore drillship challenge. Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. additionally lower its forecast in October.

“The order book for the oil-rig builders will be dwindling over the next one to two years,” mentioned Joel Ng, an analyst at KGI Securities in Singapore. “We’ve been seeing cancellations as it will be difficult for the smaller energy producers to pay for the new rigs being built.”

Sembcorp Marine mentioned in October it had received S$2.91 billion ($2.1 billion) price of recent orders to that time final yr, placing it on tempo for its slowest yr since 2009. Keppel Corp., proprietor of the world’s greatest rig-builder, obtained S$1.7 billion in new contracts within the first 9 months of 2015, which may make it the slowest since 2002. Daewoo Shipbuilding had no orders for offshore tasks final yr.

Not all is bleak, although: South Korean shipyards’ earnings ought to enhance this yr as most offshore tasks of their orderbooks are delivered, in accordance with Hana Daetoo Securities Co. That will enable them to concentrate on container ships and oil tankers, higher-margin companies the place they’ve extra expertise.

South Korean shipyards have already got mirrored lots of their losses on their steadiness sheets, and have turn into extra selective about orders. The ache they felt final yr is simply spreading to the remainder of Asia, nevertheless.

“For overseas shipyards, 2016 is going to be more challenging because the impact from weak oil prices is just now starting to hit them,” mentioned Park Moo Hyun, an analyst at Hana Daetoo in Seoul.

Chinese shipyards even have been hit. Cosco Singapore, which is owned by a Chinese mum or dad firm and has its shipyards on the mainland, noticed some bulk-carrier orders canceled as slower commodities demand in China has led to overcapacity and a 39 % decline final yr within the Baltic Dry Index.

“There’s not much that’s looking up for them” this yr, mentioned Lee Jae Won, an analyst at Yuanta Securities Korea in Seoul, who has a maintain score on the Big Three builders. “Maybe 2017 will be better.”