Subsea 7 S.A. announced the award of a contract from Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Ltd for the development of the Erha North field, located offshore Nigeria in water depths between 1,000 metres and 1,200 metres. The contract was awarded to a consortium of West African Ventures Ltd and Subsea 7’s Nigerian subsidiary.

Subsea 7's scope of work includes the engineering, procurement, fabrication and installation of 25kilometres of flowlines, 15 kilometres of umbilicals, and seventeen rigid jumpers. The scope also includes modifications to the FPSO in order to integrate it with the new subsea facilities.

The project will maximize the use of local personnel and resources in Nigeria, in particular significant parts of the design will be executed in Nigeria and all subsea structures will be fabricated in Nigeria.

Engineering will commence immediately with offshore installation scheduled to commence in early 2015, using the Seven Borealis and the Seven Pacific.

Olivier Carre, Senior Vice-President for Africa and Gulf of Mexico said: “We are delighted to be awarded this contract which demonstrates our partners’ confidence in our capabilities, and underlines our ability to leverage local skills and assets when developing technological solutions for deepwater subsea construction. This substantial contract award further expands our already strong presence in West Africa."