SLB has secured a new contract from bp to deliver a subsea boosting system for the Thunder Horse development in the deepwater Gulf of America, further extending a programme of standardised subsea infrastructure deployment across bp’s offshore portfolio.
The contract, awarded to SLB’s OneSubsea joint venture, covers engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services and follows similar awards for bp’s Kaskida and Tiber developments. Together, the projects reflect a growing industry focus on standardisation as operators seek to improve project delivery performance, reduce execution risk and accelerate production timelines.
Under the agreement, OneSubsea will provide the complete subsea boosting system alongside project management, engineering, manufacturing and testing services required to deliver the project.
The award highlights the increasingly important role of supplier-led standardisation in offshore project delivery. Traditionally, subsea developments have relied heavily on bespoke engineering solutions, often resulting in longer schedules, increased complexity and higher project costs. By deploying a common high-pressure boosting system across multiple developments, bp is seeking to create greater consistency throughout design, procurement and execution phases.
For project teams, standardisation can deliver significant advantages. Reusing proven designs reduces engineering effort, simplifies interface management and allows suppliers to leverage established manufacturing processes and testing procedures. This can help improve schedule certainty while reducing technical and commercial risk across large-scale offshore programmes.
Thunder Horse is one of bp’s flagship deepwater assets and remains a critical component of the company’s Gulf of America operations. The addition of subsea boosting technology is expected to help maximise production from the field by increasing reservoir recovery and extending the economic life of existing infrastructure.
Subsea boosting systems play an important role in mature offshore developments, helping maintain production rates as reservoir pressures decline over time. By increasing the pressure of produced fluids on the seabed before they are transported to processing facilities, operators can improve flow assurance, enhance recovery rates and unlock additional reserves that might otherwise remain uneconomic.
Mads Hjelmeland, Chief Executive Officer of SLB OneSubsea, said the company’s standardised approach is helping operators improve both project execution and operational performance.
“Subsea boosting is an important enabler for extending production from existing assets. Our standardised subsea solutions support faster deployment and improved efficiency, helping operators enhance production and recovery while optimising overall field performance.”
From a project management perspective, the contract demonstrates how major energy companies are increasingly adopting portfolio-based delivery strategies, where common technologies and standardised execution models are deployed across multiple projects rather than developing unique solutions for each asset.
This approach can create efficiencies throughout the project lifecycle, from front-end engineering and procurement through to commissioning and operations. It also enables closer collaboration between operators and supply chain partners, helping establish repeatable delivery models that can be replicated across future developments.
For OneSubsea, the award strengthens its position as a strategic delivery partner on bp’s deepwater developments and reinforces the growing importance of integrated EPC models in complex offshore projects.
As offshore operators continue to balance production growth with capital discipline, technologies that improve asset recovery while enabling more predictable project execution are likely to play an increasingly important role in future field development strategies.
The Thunder Horse contract demonstrates how standardisation, technology innovation and integrated project delivery are becoming central themes in the next generation of offshore energy projects.
