Anadarko is predicting that tiebacks will be its dominant theme for the US Gulf of Mexico this year, arguing projects that tap existing infrastructure can provide healthy returns even amid today’s industry slump.

“We believe our tieback programme generates rates of return in excess of 30% even in the current price environment,” chief executive Al Walker said.

The US independent’s 2016 programme, with a budget of $700 million, includes activity in and around the Lucius, Heidelberg and Caesar-Tonga developments, executives told investors this week.

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