Project watchers said solicitations of interest had gone out to yards to gauge interest and availability of capacity for yards to construct a large FPSO that would be producing in 2017 or 2018.

“They are going out to the shipyards, gauging interest and trying to assess capacity,” said a source. Yards thought to have received the enquiry include the South ­Korean trio of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Samsung Heavy Industries and ­Hyundai Heavy Industries.

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