Mexican state oil company Pemex this summer considered the sale of one of two newbuild floating offshore accommodation units it ordered several years ago for construction in Galicia, Spain.
Plans for the divestment of the Cerro de la Pez vessel emerged as part of board meeting minutes from July made public this month.
It remains unclear what actions were or were not taken pertaining to the vessel as the minutes are released heavily redacted due to disclosure exemptions allowed for in Mexican law.
Pemex took delivery this February of the vessel, which was also previously called the Orgullo Petrolero, after construction was completed by the Navantia shipyard in Ferrol, Spain.
However, the accommodation unit, with capacity for 700 workers, does not appear to have ever been used and according to Marine Traffic website remains docked in Spain.
The dynamically positioned DP3 vessel, classed by DNV, measures 131.2 metres in length and 27 metres wide, with a deadweight tonnage of 7000 tons.
The twin unit, the Reforma Pemex, built by Hijos de las Barreras shipyard also in Galicia, did make it to Mexico and is at work in the Bay of Campeche.
It was one of twin vessels ordered by Pemex in 2013 when the state-led Mexican oil firm had higher expectations for activity when oil prices still remained high.
The lucrative 10-year deal went to internal subsidiary PMI with a reported bid of $312 million. The move also dovetailed with a Pemex letter of intent to buy into the Hijos de las Barreras shipyard there in Galicia.
Pemex had been increasing its investment in yards in Mexico and abroad as part of a strategy to secure its marine infrastructure as it aimed to grow oil production, but that expansionary trend was cut sharply short by global fall in oil prices around 2014.
Even before that, however, critics had questioned the prudence of a major investment abroad when Pemex had vowed to focus on reversing production declines and redoubling exploration and production at home.
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