If built, it would eclipse Shell's biggest TLPs installed in the US Gulf.
Hess has already drawn up a base case for a drilling and production TLP as the centrepiece of a planned multi-billion-dollar oilfield development at Pony.
The selection was the result of a front-end engineering and design study carried out last year.
It also rules out the use of spars or semi-submersibles, although either system could also be installed at Pony, which lies in a water depth of about 3500 feet.
A
