McDermott International Inc announced that one of its subsidiaries has been awarded a fabrication contract by Shell Offshore Inc, for the West Delta 143 "C" deck, jacket, piles, and bridge located in 370 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico. The contract will be included in McDermott's third quarter 2011 bookings.

Mr Stephen M Johnson chairman, president & CEO of McDermott said that "We are pleased to be able to offer a competitive solution for the development of the West Delta platform. Shell's recognition of McDermott as a Green Light contractor for HSES performance, as well as their familiarity with our project management, ability to accelerate schedules and knowledge of our performance quality is where we added value with this contract."

McDermott's engineering group based in New Orleans will perform detailed construction engineering and load out analysis for the 10,120 tonnes of structures. McDermott's Morgan City fabrication facility in Louisiana will perform all construction engineering, procurement, fabrication and onshore mechanical completion of the deck. McDermott will also assist in the commissioning of the platform.

First steel cut is scheduled to begin later this year, with expected sail away of the deck in the first quarter of 2013.

The WD 143 "C" fabrication is part of the Mars B Development, which consists of the Olympus Tension Leg Platform, West Boreas and South Deimos sub sea development and the West Delta 143 "C" Jacket and Deck. The Olympus host will be located in Mississippi Canyon Block 807 in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 95 miles south of New Orleans, Louisiana, in a water depth of approximately 3,000 feet and its export pipelines will be tied back to the new WD 143 "C" platform.