Hornbeck Offshore Services will deploy a well intervention vessel, a multipurpose support vessel, and offshore supply vessels for Shell beginning in 2027 under a new group of deepwater services agreements in the U.S. Gulf.
The agreements include riser-based well intervention, riserless well intervention and stimulation support, and marine transportation, Hornbeck, Covington, La. said Nov. 2.
A riser-based well intervention vessel will operate with an intervention riser system, remotely operated vehicles, and project management and engineering support. Hornbeck will also provide a high-specification multipurpose support vessel with ROV, engineering, and project management services, along with Jones Act-compliant deepwater OSVs supporting the offshore work.
The company did not identify the vessels by name or disclose the financial value of the agreements. Hornbeck said the well intervention vessel and support vessel are contracted for five years.
Operations are scheduled to begin in 2027.
“We are excited to expand our longstanding relationship with Shell,” said Todd M. Hornbeck, president and CEO. “We look forward to delivering integrated services through a unique combination of high-specification assets in the deepwater basins of the U.S. Gulf of America.”
The agreements are among the clearest examples yet of the combined service offering created by Hornbeck’s merger with Helix Energy Solutions Group, which closed Sept. 1. The combined company retained the Hornbeck Offshore Services name and began trading under the HOS ticker Sept. 2.
The merger combined Hornbeck’s offshore support vessel fleet and marine transportation business with Helix’s subsea robotics and well intervention operations. At the time, the companies said the combination was intended to create an integrated deepwater service offering spanning marine transportation, subsea work, well intervention, and related technical services.
Helix already had an established well intervention relationship with Shell before the merger. In September 2024, the company announced a multiyear Gulf contract beginning in 2025 using the Q5000 riser-based well intervention vessel, intervention riser systems, ROVs, and engineering services for work ranging from production enhancement to well abandonment.
Hornbeck did not say whether the new Shell agreements replace, extend, or operate separately from that earlier contract.
The former Helix fleet includes several purpose-built well intervention vessels, including the Q4000, Q5000, and Q7000. Hornbeck has not identified which asset will perform the new Shell work.
