US subsea firm delivers the goods for deepwater Gulf of Mexico oil project

Texas-based subsea oil and gas equipment and services player Trendsetter Engineering has completed its scope of work for a deepwater oil project in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, operated by the U.S.-headquartered LLOG Exploration.

Trendsetter was hired in March 2023 to design and manufacture a subsea production manifold featuring its TCS subsea connectors and valves sourced from Advanced Technology Valve (ATV) in Colico, Italy, for the Salamanca development project. In addition, the firm was also expected to supply TCS connectors and ATV valves for the export tie-ins. The equipment was scheduled for delivery early in 2024.

While confirming the delivery of the manifold, Trendsetter highlighted: “Last week, we showcased the Salamanca subsea production manifold at New Industries, Inc. A huge thank you to LLOG, and their partner Repsol. We’ve had a ton of fun delivering this project while designing and building in value-added life-of-field features.”

For its Salamanca project, which entails production from the Leon and Castille oil fields in water depths ranging from 1,800 to 2,000 meters, LLOG decided to reuse what was previously the world’s deepest floating production platform to develop the Leon and Castile discoveries in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico and bought the old Independence Hub platform from Genesis Energy with plans to refurbish it and turn it into a floating production unit (FPU) named Salamanca.

Located about 250 miles southwest of New Orleans in around 6,000 feet of water, the Leon discovery, spud by Repsol in late 2014, was drilled to a total depth of about 32,000 feet and encountered nearly 700 feet of high-quality net oil pay in multiple sands in the Lower Tertiary. The Castile discovery was drilled in over 6,500 feet of water to a total of over 31,000 feet and encountered nearly 400 feet of high-quality net oil pay, also in the Lower Tertiary.

LLOG has handed out several deals to bring this project to life, including the one given to Subsea7 to install three infield subsea pipeline systems and handle the design and fabrication of subsea structures for the same project. The Luxembourg-domiciled firm’s contract includes two pipeline systems for the Leon field in Keathley Canyon 686 and a pipeline system for the Castile field in Keathley Canyon 736.

In addition, the deal covers the installation of oil and gas export pipelines, which depart from the Salamanca FPS and tie into existing pipeline transport systems about 48 kilometers away. LLOG also tapped Audubon for FPS engineering services in the Keathley Canyon, Gulf of Mexico, including project management, front-end engineering, detailed design, procurement, automation, and construction support for the Salamanca FPS.

While the column-stabilized platform will reuse the topside truss, cranes, lifeboats, and hull with minor modifications, topside processing equipment, utility systems, quarters and buildings, safety equipment, piping, instrumentation, and electrical systems will be new.

ABL is in charge of technical document review and approval of all Salamanca project-related critical procedures, drawings, documentation, and suitability inspections of the proposed fleet for subsea operations, which entail the installation of three infield subsea pipeline systems, along with the design and fabrication of subsea structures.

Additionally, the firm will provide on-site attendance to review and approve transportation and mobilization operations of project assets. Following refurbishment, the Salamanca platform will have a capacity of 60,000 barrels of oil per day and 40 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. The first oil from the project is anticipated in mid-2025.