FMC Technologies Inc. and Technip signed an agreement to form a joint venture (JV) as Forsys Subsea, FMC said March 22. The companies will have 50/50 ownership.

Forsys Subsea will have the technical capabilities, products and systems to significantly reduce the cost of subsea field development and provide the technology to maximize well performance over the life of the field.

The subsea umbilical, riser and flowline systems (SURF) and subsea production and processing systems (SPS) will be integrated, reducing total ownership cost and increasing reliability and uptime.

The seabed layout will be simplified, reducing complexity, accelerating time to first oil and maximizing sustainable peak production.

Forsys Subsea will focus on early involvement in the concept selection phase of front-end engineering and design, when ability to influence cost is greatest.

Integrated life-of-field well surveillance, monitoring, data interpretation and advisory services will be focused on, FMC said.

Joint R&D will drive technological innovations that will boost efficiency and further reduce development costs.

After the transaction closes and the JV is launched, Forsys Subsea will have a 320-person workforce and will be supported by the 58,000 employees of FMC Technologies and Technip. The company will be based in London, and Houston and Rio de Janeiro will be two of the regional hubs.

The leadership team will include Rasmus Sunde (FMC Technologies) as CEO, Alain Marion (Technip) as chief technology officer, Arild Selvig (FMC Technologies) leading front end engineering and Gerald Bouhourd (Technip) leading life of field.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.