The Atasta project was designed by PEMEX to boost oil production from the Cantarell oil producing
complex in the Bay of Campeche by using nitrogen injection. The first phase of the project included the
construction and start-up of a nitrogen plant at Atasta, Campeche, near Ciudad del Carmen. Two parallel
pipelines were built, one to bring sea water to the nitrogen plant and a second to return it to the sea.
Extensive buoyancy control was required for the thinner walled 42” HDPE return pipe. The trench was
approx. 32’ wide and completely filled with water – meaning tradition weighting methods could not be
used. PipeSak® geotextile pipeline weights were filled onsite using soil native to the pipeline and installed
on the floating pipe with no trench dewatering required, easily sinking it to the trench bottom.