Brazilian state-controlled company Petrobras has entered exclusive negotiations with a leading subsea services provider for the contracting of a pioneering riser titanium solution to serve a pair of giant pre-salt fields in the prolific Santos basin.

Petrobras offered an engineering, procurement, construction and installation contract designed to replace old and potentially compromised flexible pipes in the Buzios and Tupi fields with more resistant rigid risers made of titanium.

Industry sources told Upstream that Italy’s Saipem edged out arch-rivals TechnipFMC and Subsea7 and is well-positioned to secure the coveted contract — pegged at about $1 billion — if talks with Petrobras progress in the right direction.