BW Offshore hands over FPSO ownership and operation helm to Mexican giant – gallery

Mexican national oil and gas company Pemex has taken over the ownership and operation of the FPSO operating on the second largest offshore oil complex in Mexico from Norway’s FPSO operator BW Offshore.

BW Offshore revealed on Sunday that Pemex had assumed the ownership and operation of the FPSO Yúum K’ak’náab – known as El Señor del Mar (The Lord of the Sea) – with effect from 22 July 2022.

This transfer was done in accordance with the terms of the 15-year FPSO financial lease contract which started in 2007. Moreover, the FPSO El Señor del Mar has been operating in the Ku-Maloob-Zaap field since mid-2007.

“Following the transfer, BW Offshore has no obligation to provide further operational services to Pemex,” explained the Norwegian player in its statement.

The Mexican state-owned player confirmed the transfer on Saturday in a social media post. The firm’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Octavio Romero Oropeza, visited the facilities of the FPSO Yùum K’ak’Náab that “as of today is owned by Pemex after finalising the contract for the acquisition and provision of services for 15 years.”

Located 90 kilometres offshore in the Bay of Campeche, Ku-Maloob-Zaap is considered to be one of the world’s largest offshore oil complexes, encompassing five producing fields: Ku, Maloob, Zaap, Bacab and Lum. This is the second largest complex in Mexico after Chicontepec and the majority of oil produced from the Ku-Maloob-Zaap fields is piped to Cantarell and exported. 

This is the same complex where production was restored in August last year after a fire erupted on the E-Ku-A2 platform located in the Bay of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, 22 August 2021.

The incident, which resulted in the deaths of five workers, and caused injuries to six while two went missing, was the second incident for Pemex in less than two months last year after the “Eye of fire” appeared near the company’s Ku Maloob Zaap oil development in early July. 

When it comes to Pemex’s most recent activities, it is worth noting that the Mexican player signed a deal with the U.S. energy company New Fortress Energy (NFE) earlier this month to jointly develop the Lakach offshore gas field and deploy FLNG solutions.