Oil giant BP has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Subsea Integration Alliance, a partnership between Subsea 7 and SLB's OneSubsea, to bolster its global underwater projects. This alliance, initially established in 2015 and recently renewed for seven more years, has been instrumental in securing key projects, including subsea dual-bore trees in the West of Shetland at the Schiehallion and Loyal fields, as well as projects in Trinidad and Tobago in 2022.

The new agreement combines BP’s experience in building and executing projects with the contractors’ delivery of integrated subsea production systems (SPS) and subsea, umbilical, riser and flowline (SURF) systems.

A new team will be formed to oversee the activities programme, inclusive of BP, Subsea 7 and SLB subsidiary OneSubsea.

Ewan Drummond, BP’s SVP of projects, said: “The members of Subsea Integration Alliance have been a key supplier of bp for decades, and by combining our resources and knowledge, we can bring significant benefits to our customers and our stakeholders.

“The MoU was signed at an official ceremony in London on September 22, 2023, that was attended by Ewan Drummond; Olivier Blaringhem; Louise Jacobsen Plutt, bp’s SVP of procurement; Kristian Siem, Subsea7 Chairman; John Evans, Subsea7 CEO; Steve Gassen, SLB President of Production Systems, and Mads Hjelmeland, SLB Director of Subsea Production Systems.

Olivier Blaringhem, CEO of Subsea Integration Alliance and executive VP at Subsea 7, said: “This agreement marks a step change in how our highly collaborative teams will work together to achieve shared objectives for mutual value. Together with bp, we will deliver lower carbon energy to the world through enhancing long-term subsea performance.”

After the Subsea Integration Alliance proved to be a “tremendous” success, Subsea7 and SLB signed an agreement in the summer of 2022 to renew it for a further seven years.

A few months ago, BP put the Alliance in charge of a two-well tie-back project in the large, multi-stage West Nile Delta development off the Mediterranean coast in Egypt.

Ewan Drummond, BP’s SVP of projects, said: “The members of Subsea Integration Alliance have been a key supplier of bp for decades, and by combining our resources and knowledge, we can bring significant benefits to our customers and our stakeholders. Together, we can safely deliver projects with improved project schedules, reducing our total cost of ownership and harnessing synergies through a collaborative one-team mindset. We look forward to getting to work.”