Oceaneering and Petrobras extend collaboration through four-year ROV agreement

July 8, 2026, by Nadja Skopljak

U.S. subsea engineering and applied technology firm Oceaneering International and Brazilian state-owned energy giant Petrobras have expanded their collaboration with a four-year contract for remotely operated vehicle (ROV) services.

Following a competitive tender process, Oceaneering’s Brazilian subsidiary, Marine Production Systems do Brasil LTDA (MPS), has been selected to deliver ROV services to Petrobras offshore Brazil, with operations to begin in 2027.

The scope covers the supply of two work-class ROVs and specialized tooling packages in addition to carrying out monitoring and positioning support operations, to be executed by the company’s local team.

The ROV systems will be deployed from AKOFS Offshore’s subsea engineering support vessel (SESV) Aker Wayfarer, which Petrobras has contracted for intervention, installation, and abandonment support scopes.

Simao Silva, Brazil Country Manager at Oceaneering, said: “We are pleased to build on our long-standing relationship with Petrobras through this award. It underscores our role as a trusted subsea services provider in Brazil and adds long-term visibility in an important deepwater market. We appreciate Petrobras’ confidence in our ability to deliver industry‑leading solutions for complex offshore operations.”

Oceaneering has been present in Brazil for nearly three decades, and through MPS operates multiple facilities, including a center for ROV, survey, subsea intervention tooling, and engineered solutions and an onshore remote operations center (OROC) in Macaé, along with an umbilical manufacturing plant in Niterói.

At the end of summer 2025, MPS secured multiple subsea robotics contracts with Petrobras, each with a duration of four years and options to extend, and various start dates in the third and fourth quarters of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026. The scopes include ROV support of inspection, maintenance, and repair (IRM) and decommissioning activities, as well as services related to surface and subsea positioning, FPSO hook-ups, mooring inspections, and pile installations.

Furthermore, Oceaneering announced earlier this year that it had performed the first piloting operation of an ROV on a drilling rig offshore Brazil from its OROC for Petrobras.