Australian firm BHP has selected three companies to deliver an early engineering study for floating storage and offloading (FSO) unit for the Trion field in the Mexican part of the Gulf of Mexico.

BHP said that the three companies in question were Altera Infrastructure – former Teekay Offshore, BW Offshore, and SBM Offshore.

According to the Australian company, the early engineering studies for the FSO were awarded following a competitive tender process. The work is anticipated to be completed this year.

BHP president operations petroleum Geraldine Slattery said: “This work reflects another advancement for the Trion project and we look forward to working with the selected contractors through this study phase.

“By engaging with the selected contractors now, we're better enabled to optimize the design, and contracting and execution strategies for the FSO delivery”.

In March this year, BHP announced that it selected SBM Offshore, TechnipFMC, and McDermott to deliver an early engineering study for the semi-submersible floating production unit (FPU) for Trion.

Also, at the start of 2020, BHP contracted engineering specialist Doris Group for the execution of engineer services for the SURF and export pipeline scopes of work on Trion.

As for the field, Trion lies in a water depth of 2,500 metres, some 30 kilometres south of the US-Mexico border, and 180 kilometres from the Mexican coastline.

In a recent announcement, the Australian company stated that the Trion field held 222 mmboe net of 2C resources. BHP is targeting a projected breakeven of below $50 per boe. Project sanction is possible from the 2022 financial year, with earliest first oil from 2025.

There are also plans in place to conduct additional exploration drilling in the Trion block in 2021. BHP is the operator with a 60 per cent interest. PEMEX is its only partner with a 40 per cent interest.