The proposed joint venture between SLB, Subsea7 and Aker Solutions has taken the next step to being realised following regulatory approval by antitrust authorities in Brazil.

With the signing off from the Brazilian authorities, all regulatory approvals and clearances have now been obtained, including those required in Angola, Mozambique, Australia, Norway and US, making the Q4 2023 closing more likely.

The joint venture has been pursued in order to help customers unlock reserves, reduce time to first oil, lower development costs and achieve decarbonisation goals in their projects. The companies will pool their deep reservoir domain and engineering expertise, extensive subsea production and processing technology portfolios, manufacturing scale and capabilities, and comprehensive suite of life-of-field solutions for clients around the world. This has this been described as a “milestone in subsea production economics” by the companies.

Following this announcement, the parties have stated they will continue to work to satisfy the remaining conditions for closing and aim to do so as practicably possible in Q4 2023.