McDermott inks Pemex Abkatún EPCI

Houston-based McDermott International will deliver the engineering, procurement, construction & installation (EPCI) work for Mexico’s Pemex Abkatún-A2 platform, which was involved in a deadly accident last year, in a US$454 million deal.

McDermott will manufacture structures for the Abkatun-A2 project at the Altamira, Mexico fabrication facility, shown here during the successful load out of the PB Litoral A project. Image from McDermott.

According to the terms of the agreement, McDermott will provide Pemex Exploracion y Produccion a vertically integrated, turnkey EPCI solution to build and commission the platform and associated structures utilizing its project management and engineering team in Mexico.

The Abkatún-A2 platform is McDermott’s largest project in size and total value to-date for Pemex, the company confirmed. The platform will be located in Mexico’s Bay of Campeche in 124ft of water and will provide replacement and expansion capabilities to the existing Ku-Maloob-Zaap, Cantarell and Ayatsil facilities.

“McDermott provided the most efficient and technically compliant solution leveraging our capabilities in Mexico and our recent experience with PEMEX on the successful completion of the complex PB Litoral project,” said Scott Munro, McDermott VP for Americas, Europe and Africa. “Our fully-integrated solution will be led by our team in Mexico, including project management, procurement, engineering, fabrication and installation. This allows us to optimize all phases of the project.”

McDermott said it will manufacture structures for the Abkatún-A2 project at the Altamira, Mexico fabrication facility. The yard is strategically positioned as a free trade zone and provides fabrication services for the Gulf of Mexico and Americas. McDermott is expected to utilize the Derrick Barge 50 and the Intermac 650, the world’s second largest float-over installation vessel.

Engineering and procurement activities will begin immediately with fabrication scheduled to begin in late 2016, followed by offshore activities in 2018. Handover to Pemex is scheduled for Q4 2018, McDermott said.

“McDermott has focused on several initiatives to lower costs and increase operational effectiveness to become more competitive in the market,” Munro said. “Those efforts, coupled with key strategic decisions that maximize operations and execution in Mexico, directly contributed to the positive outcome of this award and will differentiate McDermott from our competitors for continued growth and success.”

In the early morning hours of 1 April 2015, a fatal fire aboard the Abkatún Permanente platform erupted. Out of the 301 people that were evacuated, 16 were seriously injured; three Cotemar workers and one Pemex worker died; and two Cotemar and one Pemex workers were never found. The explosion was caused by a leak in a rarely used gas fuel line, which showed an unusual kind of accelerated corrosion due to the presence of microorganisms and sulfuric acid within the gas, 

Abkatún is part of Pemex's Abkatún-Pol-Chuc complex, that is located 132km northeast from the Port of Dos Bocas between the states of Campeche and Tabasco. Production at the light oil fields began in 1980.

In addition, earlier this year in February, another deadly accident at the Abkatún complex that killed three and injured six.

Read more:

3 dead in Pemex platform accident

Cause of deadly Pemex Abkatún fire determined

Pemex to restore Abkatún production

Four dead from fire aboard Pemex platform

Current News

Esgian Week 41 Report: Operators in Norway Preparing for Drilling

Esgian Week 41 Report: Operato

OMV Petrom Orders Field Support Vessel for Black Sea Gas Field

OMV Petrom Orders Field Suppor

New LNG Bunker Vessel for TotalEnergies LNG Bunkering Ops

New LNG Bunker Vessel for Tota

Dutch Engineering Firms Present Floating Offshore Substation Concept

Dutch Engineering Firms Presen

Subscribe for OE Digital E‑News

Offshore Engineer Magazine