LLOG Taps InterMoor to Fabricate 12 Mooring Piles for Salamanca FPS in the Gulf of Mexico

Acteon’s InterMoor has secured a contract to fabricate 12 mooring piles to support oil firm LLOG in the permanent mooring of the Salamanca Floating Production System in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

LLOG previously awarded the design of the 80’ long and 16’ OD piles, weighing over 150 tons each, to InterMoor, a brand in Acteon’s Engineering, Moorings and Foundations division, in Q4 2022. 

“The fabrication project builds on InterMoor’s reputation as a premier suction pile fabricator and adds to our extensive track record, which includes the fabrication of the largest foundation pile in the GOM,” InterMoor said.

The 12 mooring piles will be fabricated at InterMoor’s Morgan City, Louisiana facility. The financial details of the contract were not disclosed.

LLOG Exploration Offshore will use the Salamanca floater to develop the Leon and Castile subsea developments in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

The oil and gas company in May 2022, announced the planned deployment of the Salamanca floating production facility to develop the two offshore discoveries in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

It said at the time that the Salamanca is comprised of a “uniquely” designed Floating Production Unit (“FPU”) that will be created from the refurbishment of a former GOM production facility that was previously decommissioned. At the time, it did not say which facility exactly it would use for the project.

However, information from World Energy Reports showed that LLOG would use the decommissioned Independence Hub production semi for the project.

“The unit, which was decommissioned in 2019 and has been in storage in Ingleside TX since, will be acquired from Genesis Energy for $40 million,” WER said in its July 2022 FPS report.

Credit: BOEM (file image)

In August 2022, Keppel AmFELS said it had won a contract to refurbish the Salamanca floating production unit.

Keppel AmFELS’ scope of work on the production facility includes demolition, hull modifications, and upgrades to key systems. Expected to be completed in 2Q 2024, the Salamanca FPU will have a capacity of 60,000 barrels of oil per day and 40 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.  

As the Salamanca FPU is being upgraded and modified from a previously decommissioned production facility, the time, cost and materials to be used are greatly reduced compared with the construction of a new facility, Keppel said at the time, adding that the project had a positive Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) impact as it would reduce approximately 70% in carbon emissions compared to a new build, and also circumvent the scrapping of an old unit.