Bourbon Deploys Bourbon Evolution 802 for Subsea IMR Contract on Ghana's Jubilee Field

Bourbon has been awarded a subsea services contract on the Jubilee Field offshore Ghana, deploying the multi-purpose support vessel Bourbon Evolution 802 equipped with two work-class remotely operated vehicles to deliver inspection, maintenance, and repair services across a scope that includes wellhead IMR, mooring chain cleaning on floating production, storage and offloading units, survey operations, and pipeline and X-tree installation. The contract brings approximately 60 people on board to support the campaign, including client representatives, and extends Bourbon's established presence in West African subsea operations.

 

Contract Scope and Vessel Capability

 

The Bourbon Evolution 802 is a deepwater-capable multi-purpose support vessel configured specifically for integrated subsea campaigns that require simultaneous management of multiple workstreams across inspection, maintenance, construction, and survey. The combination of two work-class ROVs aboard a single MPSV enables the vessel to conduct parallel operations across different subsea scopes without requiring repeated mobilisation of additional spread, improving overall campaign efficiency. The scope at Jubilee spans wellhead inspection, maintenance and repair, mooring chain cleaning of the field's FPSO units, seabed survey operations, and the installation of pipelines and X-trees, representing the full breadth of subsea integrity and construction services that complex deepwater producing fields require on a cyclical basis. Bourbon chief commercial officer Karim Mebrarek has described the Evolution 802 as precisely the type of vessel suited to technically complex projects, combining integrated subsea engineering and offshore operations with strong local presence and regional team experience.

 

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Regional Track Record and Strategic Positioning

 

Bourbon has accumulated substantial operational experience in the West African offshore market, including campaigns conducted since 2021 on Tullow-operated fields in Ghana using the Bourbon Evolution 804. The continuity of the company's regional presence and its familiarity with the specific operational and logistical characteristics of the Ghanaian offshore environment provide a meaningful competitive advantage in tendering for technically complex subsea contracts where local knowledge and established supply chain relationships are commercially relevant. The Jubilee Field is one of Ghana's most significant producing assets and has been in production since 2010, generating a sustained requirement for subsea integrity management, mooring maintenance, and infrastructure installation work of the type now being executed by Bourbon. The new contract builds on and reinforces the company's positioning as an integrated subsea services provider with the vessel capability, ROV expertise, and regional operational depth to support complex West African campaigns across the full project lifecycle.

 

Implications for Bourbon's Post-Restructuring Growth Strategy

 

The Jubilee contract is one of a series of operational milestones that Bourbon has reported as part of its growth phase following the completion of its restructuring programme in early 2025. The company has been actively expanding its fleet and securing contracts across multiple geographies, and the West African subsea services award demonstrates that the restructured business is successfully competing for technically demanding integrated contracts beyond its traditional strengths in offshore support vessel provision. Mebrarek's framing of the contract as reflecting Bourbon's ability to deliver integrated subsea solutions combining engineering and offshore operations positions the Jubilee work as a validation of the company's broadened commercial capabilities rather than a routine vessel deployment, reinforcing the strategic narrative of the post-restructuring Bourbon as a more technically diversified operator.