Billiton Petróleo Operaciones de México (BHP) awarded a contract to McDermott International to provide pre-front-end engineering design (pre-FEED) services for a floating production unit (FPU) that will be installed in a water depth of approximately 8,200 ft (2,500 m) at the Trion field, located approximately 19 miles south of the US/Mexico border and approximately 112 miles from the Mexican coastline.
The scope of the contract, worth between $1 million and $50 million, includes engineering tasks related to the configuration, sizing and preliminary analysis of the FPU, including topsides, hull, risers, and mooring. The project will also begin immediately with completion projected in the third quarter of 2020. The contract award will be reflected in McDermott's first quarter 2020 backlog.
McDermott said it will work in partnership with Houston Offshore Engineering (HOE) and Wood on the pre-FEED, with McDermott's Houston office leading engineering services along with its Mexico City office, and HOE and Wood providing engineering for the hull and topsides, respectively. McDermott will also perform project management, execution planning, and estimation services. The installation studies will be performed by McDermott's marine operations, and technical support for fabrication and integration planning will be handled by its Mexico-based Altamira fabrication yard.
BHP had already selected McDermott along with SBM Offshore US, Technip US, and dba Genesis North America to deliver an early engineering study for the FPU, which is expected to be completed in 6 months.
BHP has also contracted engineering and product management company DORIS for the execution of engineer services for the subsea, umbilicals, risers, and flowlines (SURF), and export pipeline scopes of work of the project. BHP holds a 60% interest (and operatorship) in Trion and PEMEX holds a 40% interest.