Marine Well Containment Project Awards Front-End Engineering Design Contract for Subsea Equipment

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ExxonMobil, on behalf of the Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC), today announced the award of a contract to Technip for front-end engineering and design of underwater well-containment equipment. This equipment, when complete, will be used by the MWCC to provide emergency response services in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

The scope of the work includes system engineering and design of specific subsea components including the containment assembly, manifold, control umbilicals, accumulator, dispersant injection, risers, and flowlines.

ExxonMobil is leading the engineering, procurement and construction of the marine well containment system on behalf of the sponsor companies, which also include Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell. A project organization of 100, staffed from the four companies, is working full-time on the design of the new system.

"We are on schedule to develop this specialized containment equipment that will significantly increase the industry's response capabilities in the Gulf of Mexico," said Lloyd Guillory, marine well containment system project executive. "In addition to the construction of new equipment, we are continuing efforts to secure existing system components to be available for near-term use."

More information about the U.S. Gulf of Mexico marine well containment system is available at http://www.marinewellcontainment.com.

Editor's Note:

The subsea containment equipment is designed to create a direct connection and seal on a subsea well to prevent oil from escaping into the ocean. The system will be equipped with a suite of adapters and connectors to interact with various interface points, including any well design and equipment used by oil and gas operators in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

The new system will be flexible, adaptable and available for mobilization within 24 hours of being notified of an incident and can be used on a wide range of well designs and equipment, oil and natural gas flow rates, and weather conditions. The new system will be engineered to be used in water depths up to 10,000 feet and have initial capacity to contain 100,000 barrels per day with potential for expansion.

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    Source: Exxon Mobil Corporation

Released October 7, 2010