Subsea 7 Invests in North American Spoolbase

Subsea 7

Subsea 7 Inc, one of the world's leading subsea engineering and construction companies, announced it intends to build a new pipe fabrication spoolbase in Port Isabel, Texas.

The new spoolbase will deliver Subsea 7's North and Central America (NACA) region requirements for pipe fabrication in support of its fleet of pipelay and construction vessels.

The investment, estimated at $32 million, will create up to 80 to 100 new jobs in the Port Isabel community and provide Subsea 7 with a state-of-the- art fabrication spoolbase. The facility will produce pipe stalks of up to 16-foot diameter in lengths of up to 1.2 km (with possible future expansion of up to 1.8 km), for spooling onto reeled pipelay vessels. The spoolbase will be equipped to weld any steel material from traditional carbon steel to technically advanced materials, for the onshore fabrication of offshore oil and gas pipelines. In addition, the base will be able to complete the fabrication of double joints, plastic lined pipelines, pipe-in-pipe, and steel catenary risers (SCR).

Bill Boyle, Vice President for Subsea 7's NACA region said, "This announcement is the positive result of an extensive search to secure the ideal spoolbase location from which to serve our customer base. The investment enables Subsea 7 to remain highly competitive for future pipelay projects and is a key milestone in our strategic objective to significantly grow our business in the US, Mexican and Gulf of Mexico markets."

"With increasing volumes of oil and gas production in the North and Central American region being delivered through deepwater subsea facilities, our ability to supply high quality pipeline products and SCRs will provide an important competitive edge for Subsea 7. This is a very exciting development for us, and enables us to expand the significant infrastructure we have already established in the United States. We look forward to working with the local people and authorities in Port Isabel, who are extremely supportive of this new and important development."

Building work is expected to commence later this year, subject to the required planning approvals.


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