Two Miles Down, BP and TechnipFMC Mean Business

BP awards TechnipFMC up to $800M to develop the ultra-deep Tiber field, pushing Gulf of Mexico drilling to new pressure limits

24 Mar 2026

BP has handed TechnipFMC an integrated subsea contract worth between $600 million and $800 million to develop the Tiber oil field in the US Gulf of Mexico. It is one of the most technically demanding offshore programs anywhere in North America right now.

The contract, announced in January 2026, covers the full scope of subsea engineering, procurement, construction, and installation at the Tiber greenfield site in Keathley Canyon. The field sits inside the Gulf's Paleogene geological formation, a deep reservoir layer that demands 20,000 psi-rated equipment, double the pressure specification of standard deepwater systems. Globally, only a handful of contractors are certified to build subsea architecture at that spec.

The development targets six Tiber wells plus a two-well tieback from the adjacent Guadalupe field. Recoverable resources in the initial phase are estimated at around 350 million barrels of oil equivalent, with a new floating production platform designed to process 80,000 barrels per day. First oil is expected between 2029 and 2030.

This is not the first time the two companies have teamed up on Paleogene frontier work. BP selected TechnipFMC for Kaskida, its first 20K Paleogene project in the Gulf, back in 2024. By applying the same integrated iEPCI execution model to Tiber, they are building something more deliberate: a repeatable delivery framework for the basin's most challenging reserves. Engineering work, high-pressure tooling, and equipment already in progress for Kaskida will carry directly into Tiber, trimming procurement lead times and containing cost uncertainty across what is a multi-year program.

Jonathan Landes, President of Subsea at TechnipFMC, framed the strategy as one built on long-term collaboration as much as technical capability, describing it as systematic, integrated delivery within a single deepwater basin.

The broader Tiber-Guadalupe project received its final investment decision from BP in September 2025, with total estimated costs sitting around $5 billion. The TechnipFMC contract signals the program's shift from planning into full execution. As the Gulf's more accessible reserves mature, the Paleogene is fast becoming the basin's next production frontier, and the integrated contracting model enabling it looks set to define US offshore output well into the 2030s.