The award confirms an Upstream report earlier this year that the Oslo-listed floater contractor was the likely winner of the coveted contract as a ship-shaped floater was preferred over sole rival Sevan Marine's cylindrical unit.

BW Offshore's unit has been contracted for a firm seven year period, with options for extension, under the letter of award from the London-based independent.

The company was earlier awarded a front-end engineering and design study as part of the tender process carried out at the end of 2012 and was tipped to win the contract.

It