U.K.-based offshore services company Subsea7 S.A. announced it has been awarded a contract by an affiliate of Murphy Oil Corp., Houston, for the String Music development in the U.S. Gulf.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Subsea7 described the contract as “sizeable,” which it defines as between $50 million and $150 million.
The contract was awarded by Murphy Exploration & Production Co., Murphy’s U.S. subsidiary, which operates the independent producer’s assets in the Gulf of Mexico, renamed by the Trump administration as the Gulf of America.
The project includes the engineering, procurement, construction, and offshore installation (EPCI) of a production flowline and related subsea infrastructure tied back to the Delta House development in the Mississippi Canyon area, in water depths of up to 6,000'.
Delta House is a semisubmersible floating production system (FPS) located in Mississippi Canyon block 254, roughly 130 miles southeast of New Orleans. It can process up to 100,000 bbls. of oil per day and 240 million cu. ft. of gas per day at peak production. Originally developed by LLOG Exploration Co. and brought online in April 2015, Murphy holds an interest in the Delta House FPS following its acquisition of LLOG’s deepwater U.S. Gulf assets in 2019.
String Music is a Murphy-operated deepwater development in Mississippi Canyon block 431, approximately 10 miles from Delta House. The project is part of Murphy’s stated strategy of pursuing lower-risk, infrastructure-led development near existing production hubs.
Project management and engineering activities for the Delta House EPCI program will begin immediately at Subsea7’s office in Houston, with offshore operations scheduled for 2027, the company said in a press release.
Craig Broussard, senior vice president for Subsea7 US, said, “This award reflects the strength of our collaborative approach with Murphy as we develop a more standardized and efficient delivery model that improves predictability and helps accelerate project execution across their developments, including the String Music fields in the U.S. Gulf.”
The U.S. Gulf is seeing a surge in subsea tiebacks driven by their cost-effectiveness and shorter cycle times compared with standalone facilities, with at least eight new tiebacks installed in the region in 2025 and 2026.
Subsea7 has been one of the most active EPCI contractors in the basin over the past two years, picking up a string of sizeable to substantial contracts across multiple clients.
