McDermott to provide FEED work on BHP’s Trion FPU

U.S. engineering firm McDermott has been selected by BHP’s Mexican arm, in partnership with Pemex, to provide front-end engineering design (FEED) of a semi-submersible floating production unit (FPU) for the Trion Project in the Gulf of Mexico.

McDermott said on Tuesday that the FPU would be designed for a water depth of approximately 8,200 feet and would be located in the Trion Field, some 30 kilometres south of the U.S.-Mexico border and around 180 kilometres off the Mexican coastline.

According to the company, McDermott will lead a single, integrated team to perform project management and execution planning.

Mark Coscio, senior vice president for McDermott’s North, Central, and South America regions, said: “We look forward to being a partner with BHP and Pemex in the establishment of the first deepwater oil field development project in Mexico.

Samik Mukherjee, group senior vice president for projects, added: “With integrated project management, engineering, procurement services and self-fabrication in our yards in Altamira, Mexico, and Batam — McDermott’s globally integrated EPC project delivery capabilities will allow us to reduce risk and enhance certainty of delivery on the BHP Trion project”.

The scope of the FEED contract includes engineering tasks related to the configuration, sizing and analysis of the FPU, including topsides, hull, risers and mooring.

It is worth noting that McDermott was previously awarded and completed services under an initial pre-FEED contract.

The company was also put in charge of a preliminary front-end engineering design (pre-FEED) extension phase for the Trion FPU.

As for the field, Trion lies in a water depth of 2,500 metres, some 30 kilometres south of the US-Mexico border, and 180 kilometres from the Mexican coastline.

BHP previously stated that the Trion field held 222 mmboe net of 2C resources. It is targeting a projected breakeven of below $50 per boe. Project sanction is possible from the 2022 financial year, with the earliest first oil from 2025.

There are also plans in place to conduct additional exploration drilling in the Trion block. BHP is the operator of the block with a 60 per cent interest. Pemex is its only partner with a 40 per cent interest.