Wood gets topside engineering work on Woodside’s Gulf of Mexico FPU

UK-headquartered Wood has been hired by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) for detailed engineering of the topsides facilities on a floating production unit (FPU) destined for Woodside’s deepwater oil project in the Perdido basin in the Gulf of Mexico, located 30 km south of the Mexico-U.S. maritime border.

This deal is for the Trion FPU, which will be constructed in South Korea, and follows the delivery of the Trion pre-FEED and FEED design. Upon completion, the Trion project, representing the first deepwater development in Mexico at a water depth of 2,500 meters, is expected to have a production capacity of 100,000 barrels per day and connect to a 950,000-barrel capacity floating storage and offloading vessel.

John Day, President of Oil, Gas and Power at Wood, commented: “We are pleased to have been selected as the topsides engineering provider for Trion by Woodside Energy and the project’s EPC contractor, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries. Wood’s innovative design process on the pre-FEED and FEED work positioned us well for the detailed engineering scope on Trion.

“Applying a practical approach to decarbonization in the design process has been an important part of this project, whilst ensuring safety and quality. Our team has a proven history with Woodside, having worked together for two decades, and our experience designing and delivering solutions for Trion will improve productivity, reduce emissions and maximize the return on investment for our client.”

Wood’s teams in Houston and Bogota, Colombia, are set to deliver the detailed topsides design work for the FPU project over the next three years. The FID for the Trion project was revealed in June 2023. Come August 2023, Woodside received a stamp of approval from the Mexican regulator, Comision Nacional de Hidrocarburos (CNH), for the field development plan (FDP).

The forecasted total capital expenditure for the project is $7.2 billion out of which $4.8 billion is the Australian firm’s share including capital carry of PEMEX of approximately $460 million. Located in a water depth of 2,500 m, approximately 180 km off the Mexican coastline and 30 km south of the Mexico/U.S. maritime border, Trion was discovered in 2012 by PEMEX. 

BHP Petroleum acquired an interest in 2017, which subsequently became part of Woodside’s portfolio in 2022. The project will be developed through an FPU with an oil production capacity of 100,000 barrels per day, which will be connected to an FSO vessel with a capacity of 950,000 barrels of oil.

SeonMook Lim, Engineering Vice President of Offshore Engineering Division at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, remarked: “We are very pleased to reunite with Wood through the Trion FPU project for the first time since we worked on the East Area Natural Gas Liquids Offshore Project in West Africa in 2005.

“We are greatly enthusiastic about creating another EPC success story that will leave a lasting mark in the history of offshore oil and gas development. We look forward to continuing our relationship with Woodside as we embark on Trion FPU project.”

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries also recently awarded a commissioning contract for the FPU to Houston-based Gate Energy. The Trion development will encompass 18 wells drilled in the initial phase while a total of 24 wells will be drilled over the life of the project.

The gas that is not reinjected or used on the FPU will be delivered to the domestic natural gas network by a subsea gas pipeline. The first oil is targeted for 2028.