McDermott, an offshore engineering and construction firm, has been chosen by Australia's BHP Billiton, in collaboration with Mexico's Pemex, to provide Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) of a Semi-submersible Floating Production Unit (FPU) for the Trion field development offshore Mexico.

The semi-sub floater will be designed for a water depth of approximately 8,200 feet (2,500 meters) and will be located in the Trion Field, approximately 19 miles (30 kilometers) south of the U.S./Mexico border and approximately 112 miles (180 kilometers) off the Mexican coastline.

"We look forward to being a partner with BHP and Pemex in the establishment of the first deepwater oil field development project in Mexico," said Mark Coscio, Senior Vice President for McDermott's North, Central and South America region.

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

"With integrated project management, engineering, procurement services and self-fabrication in our yards in Altamira, Mexico, and Batam, Indonesia—McDermott's globally integrated EPC project delivery capabilities will allow us to reduce risk and enhance certainty of delivery on the BHP Trion project," said Samik Mukherjee, Group Senior Vice President for Projects.

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. McDermott was previously awarded and completed services under an initial pre-FEED contract.

Matthew Ridolfi, BHP's Vice President Projects Petroleum, said: “The awarding of the FPU FEED contract is an exciting milestone for the development. Starting the next phase of study will help us reach the level of design and execution plan maturity required to move Trion into further phases of development. We look forward to working with McDermott through the next phase.”

The design contract was awarded following a 14-month design competition, which was preceded by a competitive tender process. Building upon the Pre-FEED work previously completed, the scope of the FEED study work will focus on the development of an FPU design with a nameplate capacity of 100,000 barrels of oil per day.

BHP acquired the Trion asset in Mexico’s first-ever Deepwater Bid Round in 2016. The Trion field encompasses an area of 1,285 square kilometers and is located in the Perdido belt. BHP is the operator holding a 60% interest in the development and PEMEX is the non-operating partner with a 40% interest.Credit: BHP