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Three suppliers are in the running, but one bid stands well below the rest.
Rio de Janeiro – July 23, 2026
Petrobras is getting closer to wrapping up a $600 million tender for subsea equipment. At stake: 32 subsea trees and a package of related hardware that will go into the company's Sergipe Deepwater project, one of Brazil's biggest upcoming production hubs.
Three players are in the mix—SLB OneSubsea, Baker Hughes, and TechnipFMC. The bids are public via Brazil's Petronect system, and the numbers make for pretty interesting reading.
The tender has three lots. Lots 1 and 2 are each for 16 trees. Lot 3 is a consolidated package covering all 32 trees plus manifolds, UDEHs, PLEMs, ESDVs, and UTAs.
Lot 1 (16 trees, 6 UDEHs, 2 PLEMs): SLB OneSubsea at R$1.58 billion (~$310M), Baker Hughes at R$1.81 billion, TechnipFMC at R$1.87 billion.
Lot 2 (16 trees, manifold, 7 UDEHs, 3 PLEMs, 3 ESDVs, 3 UTAs): SLB OneSubsea at R$1.76 billion (~$340M), Baker Hughes at R$2.05 billion, TechnipFMC at R$2.10 billion.
Lot 3 (full package): SLB OneSubsea at R$2.89 billion (~$570M), Baker Hughes at R$3.33 billion, TechnipFMC at R$3.49 billion.
SLB OneSubsea came in cheapest on every lot. And not by a small margin.
If you add up SLB OneSubsea's Lots 1 and 2, you get about R$3.34 billion. But their Lot 3 consolidated bid is R$2.89 billion—about $90 million less than the combined individual lots.
That's a pretty clear hint that the company is pushing hard for the bundled deal. The way Petrobras set up the evaluation, they'll compare the best combined offer for Lots 1+2 against the best single offer for Lot 3. Right now, the consolidated lot looks like the path of least resistance.
The SEAP development is in the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin, off Brazil's northeast coast. Two phases:
SEAP I covers Agulhinha, Agulhinha Oeste, and Palombeta. The P-81 FPSO is expected to do 120,000 bpd of oil and process 10 MMcm/d of gas.
SEAP II covers Budião, Budião Noroeste, and Palombeta. The P-87 FPSO will handle 120,000 bpd of oil and 12 MMcm/d of gas.
Combined, the two phases hold more than 1 billion barrels of recoverable oil equivalent. The gas export pipeline will run 134 kilometers—111 offshore and 23 onshore. SBM Offshore is already lined up for both FPSOs, with contracts expected in May 2026.
SLB OneSubsea is the joint venture between SLB (70%), Aker Solutions (20%), and Subsea7 (10%). They recently landed a Petrobras contract for Atapu and Sépia, and have been making a point of highlighting their Brazil manufacturing footprint.
Baker Hughes has been a steady presence in Petrobras's supply chain. They recently won an order for up to 50 subsea trees covering multiple fields—Albacora, Jubarte, Barracuda-Caratinga, and the pre-salt developments at Mero and Búzios.
TechnipFMC has a long history with Petrobras. They're also in the running for a separate tender covering flexible pipelaying vessels.
This tender is just one piece of a much bigger procurement push. Petrobras recently launched its largest-ever umbilical tender, around $300 million. Oceaneering picked up a new four-year ROV contract, extending a Brazil presence that goes back almost three decades.
For manufacturers of clad plates and machined components, the SEAP project represents a significant opportunity. Petrobras's technical specifications for subsea equipment explicitly address cladding requirements—for example, in seawater injection systems where "Ni alloy 625 shall be used with a minimum layer of 3mm" for cladded components. The company's welding and NDT requirements for subsea pressure-containing parts also include specific provisions for cladded welds, with hardness testing exemptions for HAZ of cladded C-Mn or low alloy back steel.
The FPSOs being built for SEAP I and II will require extensive use of clad plates in pressure vessels, heat exchangers, towers, and piping systems—particularly where equipment is exposed to corrosive fluids and seawater environments. Common clad material combinations for such applications include SA516 Gr.70 with 316L stainless steel for pressure vessels and heat exchangers, and SA516 with Inconel 625 for high-temperature corrosive environments.
The final decision is due any time now. Petrobras still needs to go through price negotiations, technical checks, and qualification reviews before anything gets signed. But the bid numbers are out there, and they point in one direction.
Fugo Tech is a manufacturer of clad plates and machined components for pressure vessels and heat exchangers. Core products include clad tube sheets, clad dish heads, and baffle plates. Complementary materials cover titanium, nickel alloy, and stainless steel. ISO 9001 and PED certified. www.fugo-tech.com | sales@fugo-tech.com.
Fugo Tech is focused on the manufacturing of clad metal plate and distributes the Stainless Steel, Titanium, Nickel Alloy, Zirconium and other non-ferrous metal pipes, fittings, and flanges.
