Subsea 7 has been awarded a trio of contracts by Petrobras with a combined value (at the time of contract signature) of approximately US $1.6 billion for the construction and operation of three newbuild flexible pipelay support vessels (PLSVs).
The work scope of each of these 5-year contracts is similar to that of the PLSVs that the company currently operates offshore Brazil, comprising project management, engineering and installation of flowlines, umbilicals and equipment supplied by Petrobras.
The new PLSVs are of similar design to the Seven Waves, and will be constructed in Holland at the IHC Merwede shipyard. The vessels are scheduled to be delivered in Q3 2016, Q4 2016 and Q2 2017 respectively. They are designed for operation in water depths of up to 3,000 m (9,843 ft), and will be equipped with a pipelay system for installing flexible flowlines and umbilicals, including a Lay System tower with 550 tonnes top tension capability, twin underdeck baskets capable of storing up to 4,000 tonnes of flexible flowlines and two state of the art ROVs.
The total cost of the three vessels, including inventories, commissioning and mobilisation to Brazil, is approximately $950 million.
Subsea 7 CEO, Jean Cahuzac, said: “Based on our experience with the construction of the Seven Waves, which is progressing well, we are confident that these three vessels will be delivered on time and in line with our cost estimates. We are comfortable with the commercial model, the risk profile, and the expected financial return of these contracts.”
A few weeks ago Subsea 7 was awarded two other pipelay vessel operation contracts by Petrobras worth a combined total of approximately $850 million. One for $400 million was for the operation of the PLSV Normand Seven, while another for $450 million was for the operation of the PLSV Seven Phoenix (see last issue of DI, page 7).
The contracts are all good news for Subsea 7, which recently had to reveal it was swallowing a $250- $300 million cost hit on the Guará- Lula NE development off Brazil (see last issue of DI, page 8).
Subsea 7 also recently ordered a newbuild heavy construction and flexible pipelay vessel to be delivered in 2016. The vessel will be one of the most capable heavy construction vessels in the company’s fleet of more than 40 ships. She will be deployed globally to meet increasing market demands for executing ever-larger and more complex projects in deepwater. The vessel will have a 2,600sq metres deck area, a 600t Active Heave Compensated offshore crane, a 325t top tension vertical lay system and a 7,000t under-deck basket for storage of flexible pipes, umbilicals and cables. South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) will build the vessel. The main crane and the vertical lay system will be provided by Huisman. This is the second vessel that HHI will build for Subsea 7.