Four celebrated global offshore oil and gas contractors are facing off in a battle to supply a big floating production unit to anchor the multibillion-dollar Trion ultra-deepwater oil project offshore Mexico.

The foursome vying for the engineering, procurement and construction contract are South Korean companies Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries, Singapore’s Sembcorp Marine and, to the surprise of some, Japanese floater specialist Modec.

According to well-placed sources, the quartet submitted offers for the EPC contract to concession operator Woodside earlier this week.