Work-hungry shipyards submitted bids this week to Anglo-Dutch giant Shell to build a semi-submersible floating production platform for the supermajor’s multi-billion dollar Vito project in the US Gulf of Mexico.

Industry sources said about half-a-dozen players are on the hunt to land three major contracts centred on Vito’s 24,000-tonne FPU, which is due on stream in 2021 and is designed to handle 100,000 barrels per day of oil.