Building a New Company, Expanding Opportunities

Q: How is McDermott offering a new value proposition to the market after its 2018 merger?

A: In May 2018, McDermott announced it had combined with CB&I. We are promoting the idea of “building a new company” by rebuilding our company culture. One of our key global themes moving forward is the assimilation of the culture of both companies, choosing the best aspects of both to construct a stronger company culture for the future. This combination has also helped to extend the company’s service capabilities. While McDermott was traditionally an offshore contractor, the addition of CB&I’s onshore capabilities has allowed us to become very active in the LNG, petrochemical, refining and power sectors. McDermott also has a business called Lummus Technology, which is a global leader in licensing proprietary petrochemicals, refining, gasification and gas processing technologies, and a supplier of proprietary catalysts and related engineering processing technologies. With these additions, we plan to develop our onshore business in Mexico and grow our presence in the downstream. 

Q: The Abkatun-A2 shallow water platform was the largest oil platform to be built in Mexico in the last 10 years. What were the main challenges McDermott encountered in its construction?

A: McDermott manufactured Abkatun-A2 completely in Mexico and only the concept was engineered by a group outside of the country. One of the major challenges was to ensure that all packages arrived in a timely fashion so that the sequence of fabrication remained on track. When materials do not arrive on time, our building process must be rearranged and this can cause problems. The fact that McDermott has the largest welding school in Mexico, located in Altamira, meant we could control much of the process. Some 2,500 employees were involved in Abkatun-A2 alone and we far exceeded local content requirements. One of our major achievements during this build was the zero-count accident rate. 

Q: What are McDermott’s current projects in Mexico and what role does it play?

A: We are involved in the building of Topside modules for an FPSO, and a platform for Eni, jobs that require high local content percentages. This year, we are also working for BP on their CASSIA C platform in the fabrication yard in Altamira. We will fabricate CASSIA C, a gas compression platform, following BP field technologies and processes. This is the second BP platform we have built in Mexico and underlines the fact that McDermott and API Altamira can work to the highest international standards required by multinationals. This speaks highly of the quality of the personnel and infrastructure in Mexico. 
This service quality is also what sets McDermott apart from competitors in Mexico. From day one, we bring our processes and securities to bear on every one of our projects. Independently of the company McDermott works with, our standards of quality and safety are carried out to the same high level. Our safety records illustrate this and are an advantage for us when it comes to attracting international players in Mexico. As we are a worldwide enterprise, one of our key differentiators is the ability to bridge solutions independently of where a company comes from. 

Q: How has your relationship with PEMEX changed since the new administration took over?

A: Our PEMEX relationship remains the same. Those projects that were readied for execution have continued. 
We were not invited to the closed bid for Dos Bocas, but we are hopeful that our technology could be involved in the building process there through, for example, the refining technologies that Lummus Technologies offers. McDermott is also looking at opportunities to help with the revamps of the existing refineries because there is good capacity for investment.

McDermott is a global, integrated engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) service that operates in over 54 countries. The company employs over 32,000 workers worldwide.