Matrix Composites & Engineering (Matrix) is pleased to announce it has entered into an agreement with Subsea 7 for the supply of subsea installation buoyancy for their heavy lift tie-in package on the Chevron-operated Gorgon Project in Western Australia.

Matrix Composites to supply subsea installation buoyancy

Matrix will supply subsea installation buoyancy ranging from 0.5t to 10t to the Gorgon Project.  The buoyancy will be used to facilitate tie-in operations in water depths of up to 4,429 feet (1,350 metres).

Matrix's subsea installation buoyancy will be manufactured in-house at its new 20,000m2 composites syntactic foam plant in Henderson, Western Australia (WA).

The associated tooling and through members will be manufactured at Matrix Offshore Services & Engineering (MOSE), the group's specialist equipment services and heavy engineering division in Malaga, WA. Under the agreement, 35 people will be directly involved in manufacturing the complete product, with an additional 190 shop floor staff involved with specific parts of the manufacturing process.

Matrix's CEO Aaron Begley said Matrix is delighted to have secured the contract. "The contract highlights our market leading position in the manufacture and supply of subsea buoyancy products. It also showcases Matrix as a provider of complete solutions. Not only are we manufacturing the installation buoyancy, we are also using our fabrication and machining capabilities to make the associated tooling and through members, all under the one roof".

"As the only manufacturer of subsea buoyancy systems in Australia and Asia, Matrix operates out of the world's largest, most technically advanced composite syntactic foam plant. This allows us to manufacture greater quantities of high quality product within shorter timeframes. Delivery times are also reduced when supplying local operators. At Matrix, we also invest heavily in research and development and intellectual property which gives us a further competitive advantage in regards to product innovation and differentiation".

Matrix has, and continues to supply a number of Australian based oil and gas projects with a range of subsea buoyancy products, composite drilling and completions centralisers, and cryogenic insulation for LNG plants.