Aramco CRPO 176, Petronas RM50-60B Upstream Decade, and SBM-Solstad Deepwater JV Confirm Offshore Talent as the Binding Constraint

Saudi Aramco has issued CRPO 176, its sixth engineering, procurement, construction and installation tender of 2026, covering seven flexible pipelines totalling 17 km across the Berri and Marjan fields in the Persian Gulf. This follows five earlier CRPOs (167–171) that closed bidding in late April across Abu Safah, Berri, Manifa, Marjan and Zuluf. Four Zuluf-specific CRPOs alone carry a combined estimated value of nearly USD 6 billion. Saipem has already secured a USD 500 million contract for a 65-km trunkline at Safaniya under the same long-term agreement framework. The trajectory is unambiguous: Aramco is on track to nearly double its offshore CAPEX compared to 2024 levels.

Speaking at the OGSE Sabah 2026 conference in Kota Kinabalu, Petronas Senior Vice President of Malaysia Petroleum Management Datuk Ir Bacho Pilong announced that the national oil company is targeting annual upstream investments of RM50–60 billion (approximately USD 11.5–13.8 billion) to sustain production at two million barrels of oil equivalent per day. Critically, Bacho disclosed that Petronas is allocating approximately RM500 million annually until 2030 specifically for frontier basin maturation, with Sabah receiving the majority share of these exploration investments. The Sabah OGSE 5-Year Roadmap's 60% local content target, coupled with the Permata Cluster PSC award and Mutiara Cluster Heads of Agreement, signals continued momentum in expanding Sabah's offshore ecosystem.

SBM Offshore and Solstad Offshore have formed a joint venture — Solstad 50.1%, SBM 49.9% — and signed a Letter of Intent with a shipyard for a multi-purpose deepwater installation and construction vessel, targeting delivery in the first half of 2029. Solstad Shipping will act as ship manager. The vessel is designed to support SBM's full-lifecycle EPCIO offering — from FPSO installation through to life extension and decommissioning — and is explicitly intended to reduce execution risk in deepwater projects. The order comes as the global FPSO orderbook stretches fabrication and installation capacity: SBM alone recently secured contracts for two Brazil FPSOs from Petrobras and is progressing the FSO Chalchi for Woodside's Trion field offshore Mexico.