The company said it will cooperate with Houston-based KBR and its subsidiary Granherne on front-end engineering and design (FEED) services.

"The alliance will bring two market-leading companies together to ensure the most cost-effective solutions are presented to clients in the early concept evaluation phase of a field development project," it said.

KBR and Granherne are specialists in field development planning.

The alliance will operate on a global basis, but decisions to collaborate will be on a project-by-project basis.

Subsea