Subsea7 picks up multimillion-dollar job in Gulf of Mexico

Luxembourg-domiciled Subsea7 has won a new assignment with the Houston-headquartered Talos Energy, which will enable it to work on a subsea tie-back of a commercial oil and natural gas discovery to an existing tension leg platform (TLP) in the Gulf of Mexico.

Thanks to the deal with Talos Energy for the Sunspear development in Green Canyon Block 78 in the Gulf of Mexico, Subsea7 will work on a tie-back of one production well to the Prince platform, 12 kilometers to the north. While the company will install the flowline and related subsea equipment at 500-meter water depths, its Houston office will oversee project management and installation engineering, with offshore work slated to begin later this year.

This sizeable contract will bring Subsea7 between $50 million and $150 million. The deal for Sunspear comes months after the firm inked a three-year strategic agreement with Talos related to innovative commercial solutions for subsea engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) projects in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Commenting on the latest contract award, Craig Broussard, Vice President for Subsea7 Gulf of Mexico, highlighted: “This award further strengthens our strategic partnership with Talos Energy, enabling early-stage collaboration for faster, more predictable project delivery.”

Following the drilling of the Sunspear exploitation well, Talos discovered commercial quantities of oil and natural gas in July 2023 and the U.S. player’s preliminary post-drill analysis indicated around 260 feet of gross true vertical thickness of oil pay, including 149 feet of net oil pay in the main target in line with pre-drill expectations.

In August 2023, the Gulf of Mexico operator confirmed that the discovery would be tied back to the Prince platform with the first oil expected in 18 to 24 months. Located in Ewing Bank block 1003, the Prince TLP was installed in August 2001 in 1,490 ft (454 m) of water, and designed for a 20-year lifespan. Life extension studies were conducted to assess the feasibility of extending the platform’s service life for an additional 15 years.

Subsea7 has won a series of new contracts this year, including the one with Woodside Energy for a deepwater oil project in the Gulf of Mexico. On the other hand, Talos embarked on a mission to expand its oil and gas footprint with the acquisition of QuarterNorth Energy.

In addition, the U.S. company also penned a deal with TotalEnergies to sell its Low Carbon Solutions business, covering all assets in its CCS portfolio, including three projects along the U.S. Gulf Coast.