Subsea7 in August announced it was awarded a “sizable” contract, worth between $50 million and $150 million, to perform engineering, procurement, construction, and offshore installation (EPCI) work in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
The company revealed on social media that the contract was awarded by Shell Offshore Inc., for its Vito waterflood project. Subsea7’s work scope includes EPCI of a water injection flowline, hull piping, and associated subsea infrastructure for an enhanced oil recovery project at Shell’s deep-water Vito platform.
Project management and engineering work will start immediately at Subsea7’s office in Houston, Texas, and offshore activity is expected to begin in 2026.
Shell announced in August it will use water injection to enhance oil volume capacity at its deepwater Vito field. Waterflood is a method of secondary recovery where the injected water physically sweeps the displaced oil to adjacent production wells, while re-pressurizing the reservoir. The three water injection wells were all drilled as pre-producers, and the process is due to begin in 2027 and is expected to significantly enhance volume capacity at the field, according to Shell.
Craig Broussard, Subsea7 senior vice president in the region, said, “We’re very pleased to join the Vito waterflood project, which demonstrates how we can use enhanced recovery methods to maximize existing reservoirs for lower-carbon oil and gas production. Our expertise and track record at all depths means we are ideally placed to support its delivery.”
The Vito field was discovered in July 2009, in more than 4,000 feet of water approximately 75 miles south of Venice, La., 150 miles southeast of New Orleans and 10 miles south of the Shell-operated Mars tension-leg platform (TLP).
In 2015, the original Vito host design was simplified and rescoped, resulting in a reduction of approximately 80% in CO2 emissions over the lifetime of the facility as well as a cost reduction of more than 70% from the original host design concept.
Shell (Operator 63.11%) and Equinor (36.89%) announced a final investment decision (FID) for the Vito development in April 2018, with first oil achieved in February 2023.
Given the properties of the Vito reservoir, energy is required to maximize the producing rate of existing wells and thus ultimate recovery.
For Subsea 7, the news follows the July award of another “sizeable” contract by bp to the Subsea Integration Alliance for the Murlach development (formerly Skua field), 240 kilometers east of Aberdeen in the UK North Sea. The Subsea Integration Alliance is a non-incorporated strategic global alliance between Subsea7 and OneSubsea, the subsea technologies, production and processing business of SLB.