Aker Solutions has moved into pole position to win a multi-million dollar contract from Brazilian oil giant Petrobras to manufacture and supply 12 highly-specialised subsea trees to serve the landmark Libra pilot oil development in the Santos basin pre-salt province.

Sources told Upstream that the Norwegian contender submitted the lowest bid in the tender in a competition with Franco-US rival TechnipFMC.

The contract workscope covers 12 subsea trees capable of handling pressures of up to 10,000 pounds per square inch, as well as four distribution units and installation services.