North Platte race nears finish

摘要

A close-fought contest to build a major new semi-submersible production platform for Total-Energies' challenging deep-water North Platte oil project in the US Gulf of Mexico could come to a head next month. North Platte is pushing the envelope for deep-water projects because it aims to tap oil and gas resources trapped in reservoirs where pressures can hit 20,000 pounds per square inch, far above normal levels. As such, the project is defined as an ultra-high-pressure asset that needs specialist well, drilling and subsea equipment to keep the reservoir under control. These characteristics have also influenced the design of the 20,000-tonne semisub. Multiple sources familiar with the project told Upstream that the battle to fabricate the semisub is down to South Korean arch rivals Samsung Heavy Industries and Hyundai Heavy Industries. Singapore's Sembcorp Marine remains in the running, said two sources, but is not thought to be one of the operator's top-two contenders.