Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petrobras has issued a mega tender aimed at contracting large flexible pipelaying support vessels to carry out operations across the pre-salt province in the Campos and Santos basins.

The new bidding opportunity comes as Petrobras is set to deploy a series of floating production, storage and offloading vessels in Brazilian waters over the next few years, with the company requiring powerful PLSVs to assist in subsea operations.

Petrobras invited contractors expected to include Subsea 7, TechnipFMC, Allseas, McDermott International, DOF Subsea and Sapura Navegacao — a joint venture between Seadrill and Sapura Energy — to participate in the tender.