AMERICAN, British and FrancoRussian companies are set to snap up three long-awaited sub-Arctic engineering and project management contracts for the huge $10 billion Sakhalin II development in Russia's Far East. Contracts were due to be awarded in October but were delayed because of wrangling over local content and Shell acquiring Marathon's full stake in project operator Sakhalin Energy. A major challenge will be to come up with viable offshore production facilities in hostile conditions on the project's Lunskoye and Piltun-Astokh fields.