SBM Offshore gives FSO job to Norwegian firm for deepwater oil project in Gulf of Mexico

Netherlands-based FPSO operator SBM Offshore has placed an order with AXTech, a Norway-headquartered heavy lifting and material handling equipment player, in relation to a floating storage and offloading (FSO) unit, which will be deployed at a deepwater oil project 30 km south of the Mexico-U.S. maritime border.

SBM Offshore won a contract two months ago with Woodside Petróleo Operaciones de México, a subsidiary of Australia’s heavyweight Woodside Energy, to construct and lease for 20 years an FSO unit destined for the Trion deepwater oil field development in the Perdido Belt of the western Gulf of Mexico.

Thanks to a deal with the Dutch player, AXTech will deliver a buoy pull-in system for the new FSO, which will operate 180 kilometers off the Mexican coastline and 30 kilometers south of the US/Mexico maritime border. Woodside Energy is the operator of the Trion project and PEMEX is its partner.

Juho Toivanen, Director of Sales & Business Development at AXTech, commented: “We are pleased that our customers continue to trust us as a supplier of technically complex solutions. It demonstrates that our dedication to quality and innovation pays off, and we look forward to delivering yet another successful project.”

The newly built FSO, which will be moored in a water depth of about 2,500 meters, will be based on a Suezmax-type hull and equipped with a disconnectable turret mooring (DTM) system. Capable of storing around 950,000 barrels of crude oil, the FSO is slated to start operation at the Trion project in 2028.

Following the final investment decision (FID) for the project 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 expected to be delivered to the domestic natural gas network by a subsea gas pipeline.

With an estimated total capital expenditure of $7.2 billion, the Trion project 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.

Several players have secured jobs on the project. While Wood has been picked to deliver the detailed topsides design work for the FPU project over the next three years, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries assigned a commissioning contract for the FPU to Houston-based Gate Energy. 

Corinth Pipeworks will deliver pipes while COSCO Shipping & Guangzhou Salvage Heavy Transport (CSGS) will transport the FPU, which will be constructed by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea, to its final destination in the Perdido basin in the Gulf of Mexico.

Recently, SBM Offshore’s new floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) unit reached Brazilian waters. This FPSO will be used at Petrobras’ huge field in the pre-salt Santos Basin off the coast of Brazil.

This follows the Dutch firm’s divestment of a minority stake in an FPSO, which is working on another of Petrobras’ giant oil fields in the Santos Basin.