Sources say Kvaerner defeated rival bidders Brown & Root and Bechtel to come away with the contract to build a 40-slot, ice-resistant steel jacket and 30,000-tonne topsides on Exxon's Arkutun-Dagi field in 150 feet of water east of Sakhalin Island. The contract should be officially signed early in February. This will be the first platform to be installed off Sakhalin and is expected to be operational around the turn of the century.