SBM Offshore celebrates first steel cut for deepwater oil project’s floater

Netherlands-based SBM Offshore, a provider of the design, construction, installation, and operation of offshore floating facilities, has kicked off the construction phase of a disconnectable turret mooring (DTM) for a floating storage and offloading (FSO) unit, destined to be deployed at a deepwater oil project 30 km south of the Mexico-U.S. maritime border.

Thanks to a contract secured in 2024 with Woodside Petróleo Operaciones de México, a subsidiary of Australia’s heavyweight Woodside Energy, SBM Offshore was put in charge of constructing and leasing an FSO for 20 years during which it would be used at the Trion deepwater oil field development in the Perdido Belt of the western Gulf of Mexico/Gulf of America.

After embarking on the China construction phase, SBM Offshore highlighted: “We are extremely proud to be part of the first deepwater project in Mexico, and to collaborate with our client Woodside Energy again — leveraging our project execution expertise and building on our track record of disconnectable turret mooring systems. Exciting times ahead! We are proud to be part of this innovative project.”

According to the Dutch giant, the ceremony to mark the first steel cut of the disconnectable turret mooring system for the Trion FSO project was held on February 12, 2025, at Cosco Shipyard in Qidong, representing the beginning of the construction phase and a new chapter for the project.

Nicolas Mac Ferran, Mexico Country Manager at SBM Offshore, commented: “The project’s disconnectable FSO Trion has formally entered the construction phase! Here in Mexico, we have the important task of preparing to install the FSO at a depth of 2,500 meters, and operate it safely for at least 20 years. Let’s go all out!”

The FSO, which will operate 180 kilometers off the Mexican coastline and 30 kilometers south of the US/Mexico maritime border, will be based on a Suezmax-type hull and equipped with a DTM system. This unit, slated to start operation at the Trion project in 2028, will be capable of storing around 950,000 barrels of crude oil. Woodside Energy operates the Trion project with PEMEX as its partner.

Once the final investment decision (FID) was taken in June 2023, the Australian giant received a stamp of approval from the Mexican regulator, Comision Nacional de Hidrocarburos (CNH), in August 2023 for its field development plan (FDP). Gas, which is not reinjected or used on the FPU, is set to be delivered to the domestic natural gas network by a subsea gas pipeline.

The Trion project comes with an estimated total capital expenditure of $7.2 billion and is portrayed as the first deepwater development in Mexico at a water depth of 2,500 meters. With a production capacity of 100,000 barrels per day, the Trion FPU will be connected to a 950,000-barrel capacity FSO unit.

Multiple players have secured jobs on the project, including Wood and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, which assigned a commissioning contract for the FPU to Houston-based Gate Energy. Corinth Pipeworks is also on the list of contracted companies alongside COSCO Shipping & Guangzhou Salvage Heavy Transport (CSGS) and AXTech.

SBM Offshore disclosed to Offshore Energy that around 40 floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) opportunities would spring up over three years, with 16 anticipated to be within its target domain.

The Dutch company has been working on its emissionZERO program since 2020 to pursue near-zero emissions through a near-zero FPSO, which it describes as the first milestone and a key pillar of the emission-zero roadmap. 

The firm’s acquisition of a minority stake in Norway’s Ocean-Power is expected to propel forward its decarbonization journey, as the Norwegian firm spotlights the concept of ‘Blue Power Hub’ to generate electricity using gas turbines with carbon capture and storage (CCS) included to curb CO2 emissions.