Under the deep blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico, a dormant ultra deep water oil field is quietly awakening. When steel giants from the Eastern Hemisphere crossed the ocean and arrived at ports in Latin America, an energy game involving floating oil storage and deep-sea mooring officially kicked off offshore installation operations.

Key equipment arrives in Mexico

SBM, a Dutch based offshore floating engineering company, specializes in the design, construction, installation, and operation of offshore floating facilities. The company has confirmed that a batch of large-scale offshore equipment has arrived at Altamira Port in Mexico. This multi billion dollar ultra deepwater oil field development project is about to see substantial progress in offshore installation and construction.

SBM's offshore floating engineering has announced a major milestone for the Trion project. The oil field is located about 180 kilometers off the coast of Mexico, 30 kilometers south of the US Mexico maritime border. The core materials and large offshore equipment required for the project have been safely transported to Altamira.

The materials arriving at the port this time include large suction piles, chains, various mooring components, as well as detachable turret mooring buoys. This buoy belongs to the core equipment of the project and will be docked with the Chalchi floating oil storage vessel in the Mexican waters in the future. This Dutch company introduced that this batch of equipment was shipped from China and arrived in Mexico via the Panama Canal, completing large-scale sea transportation and unloading work, laying an important foundation for subsequent offshore installation operations.

The company also thanks all the personnel involved in the construction, affirming the results of safe construction, careful planning, and multi-party collaboration throughout the process. The next step of the project will be to carry out on-site installation at sea.

The investment scale of the project is considerable

The initial capital investment for the Trion project is estimated to be $7.2 billion, and looking at the entire project lifecycle, the overall development cost may reach up to $10.4 billion.

Oil storage facilities and cooperation models

The Chalchi floating storage vessel under construction is operated and maintained by SBM's Mexican subsidiary, and the company has signed a 20-year lease operation contract with Woodside Energy. This brand new floating storage vessel adopts the Suezmann hull design. The ship is equipped with a detachable turret mooring system developed by the Dutch company. Oil storage vessels will be deployed in waters with a depth of approximately 2500 meters, with a crude oil storage capacity of up to 950000 barrels. Keywords: oil fields, Gulf of Mexico, floating storage vessels

The Trion deepwater oil field in the Gulf of Mexico is developed by a joint venture, with Woodside Energy holding a 60% stake and assuming operational responsibilities. Pemex, the Mexican national oil company, holds the remaining 40% equity.Editor/Gong Ziwei