About Helix Energy Solutions Group
Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. operates as an international offshore energy services company that provides specialty services to the offshore energy industry, with a focus on well intervention, robotics and full-field decommissioning operations. The company’s services are centered on a three-legged business model well positioned to facilitate global energy transition by maximizing production of remaining oil and gas reserves, supporting renewable energy developments and decommissioning end-of-life oil and gas fields. The company provides a range of services to the oil and gas and renewable energy markets primarily in the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. East Coast, Brazil, North Sea, the Asia Pacific and West Africa regions. The company has expanded its service capabilities to the Gulf of Mexico shelf with the acquisition of the Alliance group of companies (collectively Alliance) on July 1, 2022, which it has re-branded as Helix Alliance. The company’s North Sea operations and its Gulf of Mexico shelf operations related to Helix Alliance are usually subject to seasonal changes in demand, which generally peaks in the summer months and declines in the winter months. As of December 31, 2022, the company’s fleet included 27 owned vessels, eight IRSs, three SILs, the ROAM, 15 marketable P&A systems (with the ability to scale up to 20 systems), six coiled tubing systems, 41 ROVs, seven trenchers and the IROV boulder grab. The company also had six vessels under time charter agreements. All of the company’s chartered vessels and 11 of its owned vessels have DP capabilities specifically designed to meet the needs of its customers’ offshore activities. The company’s Seawell and Well Enhancer vessels also have built-in saturation diving systems. Segments The company operates through four segments, Well Intervention, Robotics, Production Facilities and Shallow Water Abandonment. Well Intervention This segment provides services enabling its customers to safely access offshore wells for the purpose of performing well production enhancement or decommissioning operations, thereby avoiding drilling new wells by extending the useful lives of existing wells and preserving the environment by safely decommissioning aged wells and restoring the seabed. The company’s well intervention vessels include the Q4000, the Q5000, the Q7000, the Seawell, the Well Enhancer, and the Siem Helix 1 and Siem Helix 2 chartered vessels. The company’s well intervention equipment includes intervention systems, such as intervention riser systems (IRSs), subsea intervention lubricators (SILs) and the Riserless Open-water Abandonment Module (ROAM), some of which it provides on a stand-alone basis. The company engineers, manages and conducts well intervention operations, which include production enhancement and abandonment, and construction operations in water depths ranging from 100 to 10,000 feet. The company’s well intervention business includes seven purpose-built well intervention vessels and 12 intervention systems (including two recently acquired deepwater IRSs) providing services primarily in the Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, the North Sea and West Africa, with expansion into Asia Pacific. In the Gulf of Mexico, the Q4000, a riser-based semi-submersible well intervention vessel, has been serving customers in the spot market since 2002. In 2010, the Q4000 served as a key emergency response vessel in the Macondo well control and containment efforts. The Q5000 riser-based semi-submersible well intervention vessel commenced operations in the Gulf of Mexico in 2015. In Brazil, the company provides well intervention services with the Siem Helix 1 and Siem Helix 2 vessels under long-term charter from Siem Offshore AS (Siem). The Siem Helix 1, which commenced operations in April 2017, completed its four-year contract with Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) in 2021 and worked on short-term accommodations and ROV projects prior to commencing a long-term P&A project for Trident Energy do Brasil Ltda. (Trident) starting December 2022. The Siem Helix 2 commenced operations for Petrobras in December 2017 and is under contract through at least December 2024. In the North Sea, the Well Enhancer has performed well intervention, abandonment and coiled tubing services since it joined the company’s fleet in 2009. The Seawell has provided well intervention and abandonment services since 1987, and the vessel underwent major capital upgrades in 2015 to extend its estimated useful economic life by approximately 15 years. The Q7000, a semi-submersible well intervention vessel built to the U.K. North Sea standards and capable of working globally, commenced operations in January 2020 performing various integrated well intervention operations offshore Nigeria. The Nigeria campaign completed in 2022 and the vessel is mobilizing for decommissioning campaigns in the Asia Pacific and Brazil. The company’s Subsea Services Alliance with SLB leverages the parties’ capabilities to provide a unique, fully integrated offering to clients, combining marine support with well access and control technologies. Through its alliance, the company and SLB jointly developed a 15K IRS and the Riserless Open-water Abandonment Module (ROAM). Robotics This segment provides trenching, seabed clearance, offshore construction and inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM) services to both the oil and gas and the renewable energy markets globally, thereby assisting the delivery of affordable and reliable energy and supporting the responsible transition away from a carbon-based economy. Additionally, the company’s Robotics services are used in and complement its well intervention services. The company’s Robotics segment includes remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), trenchers, the IROV boulder grab and robotics support vessels under term charters, as well as spot vessels as needed. The company has been actively engaged in robotics for over three decades. It operates robotics assets to complement offshore construction, maintenance and well intervention services for the oil and gas market and to support offshore renewable energy projects for the renewable energy market. The company often integrate its services with chartered vessels. The company’s robotics business operates globally, with primary operations in the North Sea, Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. East Coast, the Asia Pacific, Brazil and West Africa regions. As global marine construction activity levels increase and as the complexity and water depths of the facilities increase, the use and scope of robotics services has expanded. The company’s robotics assets and experience, coupled with its chartered vessel fleet and schedule flexibility, allow it to meet the technological challenges of its customers’ subsea activities worldwide. As of December 31, 2022, the robotics assets included 41 work class ROVs, seven trenchers (including three recently acquired trenchers) and the IROV boulder grab. The company charters vessels on a long-term or a spot basis to support deployment of its robotics assets. The company provides cable burial services related to subsea power cable installations, as well as seabed clearing and site preparation services around the world using its chartered vessels, trenchers and ROVs. Production Facilities This segment includes the Helix Producer I (the HP I), the Helix Fast Response System (the HFRS) and the company’s ownership of oil and gas properties. All of the company’s Production Facilities activities are located in the Gulf of Mexico. Services the company offers to the offshore oil and gas market worldwide include: Development: Installation of flowlines, control umbilicals, manifold assemblies and risers; trenching and burial of pipelines; installation and tie-in of riser and manifold assembly; commissioning, testing and inspection; and cable and umbilical lay and connection. Production: Well intervention; intervention engineering; production enhancement; coiled tubing operations; IRM of production structures, trees, jumpers, risers, pipelines and subsea equipment; and related support services. Decommissioning: Reclamation and remediation services; well P&A services; pipeline, cable and umbilical abandonment services; and site inspections. Production Facilities: Provision of the HP I as an oil and natural gas processing facility. The HP I is being utilized to process production from the Phoenix field in the Gulf of Mexico. Fast Response System: Provision of the HFRS as a response resource in the Gulf of Mexico that can be identified in permit applications to the U.S. federal and state agencies and respond to a well control incident. Services the company offers to the offshore renewable energy market worldwide include: Site Clearance: Site preparation for construction of offshore wind farms, including boulder relocation and underwater unexploded ordnance identification and disposal. Trenching: Cable burial via jetting and/or cutting by self-propelled trenching ROVs and plough trenching. Subsea Support: General subsea support of engineering, procurement, construction and installation contractors with ROV services standalone or with support vessels. The company owns and operates the Helix Producer I (HP I), a ship-shaped dynamically positioned floating production vessel capable of processing up to 45,000 barrels of oil and 80 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. The HP I has been under contract to the Phoenix field operator since February 2013 and is under an agreement through at least June 1, 2024. The company developed the Helix Fast Response System (HFRS) in 2011 as a culmination of its experience as a responder in the 2010 Macondo well control and containment efforts. The HFRS combines the HP I, the Q4000 and the Q5000 with certain well control equipment that can be deployed to respond to a well control incident. The company is under agreement through March 31, 2024, with various operators to provide access to the HFRS for well control purposes. The company’s Production Facilities segment includes mature deepwater offshore wells, including two remaining wells acquired from Marathon Oil Corporation (Marathon Oil) in January 2019, for which Marathon Oil agreed to pay it certain amounts as it completes the related P&A work, and three wells and related subsea infrastructure acquired from MP Gulf of Mexico, LLC (MP GOM), a joint venture controlled by Murphy Exploration & Production Company – the USA, in August 2022. Shallow Water Abandonment This segment provides services in support of the upstream and midstream industries predominantly in the Gulf of Mexico shelf, through offshore oilfield decommissioning and reclamation, project management, engineered solutions, intervention, maintenance, repair, heavy lift and commercial diving services. The company’s Shallow Water Abandonment segment includes a diversified fleet of marine assets, including liftboats, offshore supply vessels (OSVs), dive support vessels (DSVs), a heavy lift derrick barge, a crew boat and plug and abandonment (P&A) and coiled tubing systems. In July 2022, the company completed the acquisition of Alliance, a vertically integrated company specializing in comprehensive offshore oilfield decommissioning services predominantly in the Gulf of Mexico shelf. Helix Alliance’s decommissioning offerings include well plugging and abandonment, subsea infrastructure flushing and abandonments (or removals), platform decommissioning and structure removals, and subsea site clearance, and engineering, permitting and project management. In addition to its end-of-life decommissioning services, Helix Alliance offers services to support the full life cycle of offshore upstream and midstream industries, including oil and gas production through well intervention, coiled tubing and pumping; installations and construction; and inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM). Customers The company’s customers consist primarily of major and independent oil and gas producers and suppliers, pipeline transmission companies, renewable energy companies and offshore engineering and construction firms. The percentages of consolidated revenues from major customers (those representing 10% or more of the company’s consolidated revenues) are as follows: 2022 — Shell (15%). The company provided services to over 80 customers in 2022. Competition The company’s principal competitors in well intervention include AKOFS Offshore, Baker Hughes, C-Innovation, Expro, FTAI, Oceaneering, TechnipFMC, Trendsetter and international drilling contractors. The company’s principal competitors in the robotics business include Atlantic Marine, Briggs Marine, C-Innovation, DeepOcean, DOF Subsea, Fugro, James Fisher, Oceaneering, ROVOP and UTROV. The company’s principal competitors in shallow water abandonment include Aries Marine, C-Dive, Cardinal Services, Chet Morrison, Crescent Energy Services, Laredo Offshore Services, Manson Gulf, Offshore Liftboats, Offshore Marine Contractors, Seacor, Shore Offshore, Supreme Energy, Turnkey Offshore Project Services and White Fleet. Government Regulation Being an owner and operator of wells subjects the company to additional regulatory oversight from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). The company’s vessels are subject to applicable international maritime convention requirements, which include, but are not limited to, the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage of 1969, the International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage of 2001 (ratified in 2008), the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea of 1974 (SOLAS), the International Safety Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and for Pollution Prevention (the ISM Code), the Code for the Construction and Equipment of Mobile Offshore Drilling Units (the MODU Code), and the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments (the BWM Convention). In the U.S., the company is subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. Coast Guard (the Coast Guard), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (the EPA), as well as state environmental protection agencies for those jurisdictions in which it operates, three divisions of the U.S. Department of the Interior (BOEM, BSEE and the Office of Natural Resources Revenue), and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (the CBP), as well as classification societies, such as the American Bureau of Shipping (the ABS). The company is also subject to the requirements of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act and comparable state laws that regulate the protection of employee health and safety for its land-based operations. The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) controls the Petroleum Operations Notices with which the company complies for various well intervention and subsea construction projects, as required. The OGA also regulates the environmental requirements for the company’s operations in the North Sea. The company complies with the Oil Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations 2005 as required. The company’s operations in Brazil are predominantly regulated by the Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels, the federal government agency responsible for the regulation of the oil sector. Additional regulatory oversight is provided, among others, by the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, which oversees Brazilian environmental legislation, implements the National Environmental Policy and exercises control and supervision of the use of natural resources, the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency, which regulates products and services subject to health regulations, the Ministry of Labor, which regulates a variety of subjects, including work-related accident prevention and the use of machinery and equipment, and the Brazilian Navy, which regulates maritime operations. History Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. was incorporated in the state of Minnesota in 1979. The company was formerly known as Cal Dive International, Inc. and changed its name to Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. in 2006. The company was re-incorporated in the state of Minnesota in 1983.
