SBM Offshore to build FSO for Woodside’s $7.2 billion Gulf of Mexico oil project

Netherlands-based FPSO operator SBM Offshore has been put in charge of constructing a floating storage and offloading (FSO) unit destined to work at a deepwater oil project located 30 km south of the Mexico-U.S. maritime border.

SBM Offshore signed a contract with Woodside Petróleo Operaciones de México, a subsidiary of Australia’s heavyweight Woodside Energy, to construct and lease for 20 years an FSO unit, which will be deployed at the Trion deepwater oil field development in the Perdido Belt of the western Gulf of Mexico.

Based on a Suezmax-type hull and equipped with a disconnectable turret mooring (DTM) system designed by the Dutch player, the newly built FSO, which will be moored in a water depth of about 2,500 meters, will be able to store around 950,000 barrels of crude oil. The Trion project’s first oil is slated for 2028.

According to the Dutch player, this award complements the transportation and installation contract for the FSO and the floating production unit (FPU) awarded in 2023. Located 180 km off the Mexican coastline and 30 km south of the U.S./Mexico maritime border, the Trion project is an alliance between Woodside (60%, operator) and Pemex (40%, non-operator).

After the final investment decision (FID) was reached 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).

The estimated total capital expenditure is $7.2 billion for the Trion project, which is described 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.

Trion was discovered in 2012 by Pemex. While BHP Petroleum acquired an interest in 2017, the project became part of Woodside’s portfolio in 2022 when the Australian firm acquired the former’s oil and gas business. Any gas not reinjected or used on the FPU will be delivered to the domestic natural gas network by a subsea gas pipeline.

Wood has been picked to deliver the detailed topsides design work for the FPU project over the next three years. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries handed out a commissioning contract for the FPU to Houston-based Gate Energy. Corinth Pipeworks will deliver pipes for the project.

In addition, 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, TotalEnergies made a hull reservation with SBM Offshore for a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit, which will be deployed at its oil project in Block 58 off the coast of Suriname.

The deal followed a $250 million term loan facility the Dutch player secured to finance the construction of the FPSO Jaguar thanks to a FEED work assignment with ExxonMobil.