The company's vice president commercial & negotiations for North America Christine Healy, herself a Newfoundlander, called Bay du Nord a "basin-opener" during an OTC presentation on Tuesday night at the BBVA Compass football stadium in downtown Houston.

"We've seen that the disconnectable technology works," she said, but it should only be used as a "last resort".

Healy said it is still "early days" for defining the floating production platform any more than that.

"We