Subsea 7 is looking to order up to two pipelay newbuildings worth around $800m.
The London-headquartered company is understood to have already lined up a tender for the construction of two large flexible-lay vessels.
Subsea 7 has reportedly shortlisted around six yards and is working on finalizing the purchase of pipelay equipment from Dutch supplier Huisman.
Dutch shipbuilder IHC Merwede is being tipped as the front runner for the contract, while yards from Korea and Singapore are fiercely competing.