Technip has been confirmed as the winner of a contract by Shell Offshore to lay the world’s deepest gas pipeline on the operator’s Stones field in the US Gulf.

The French contractor said it has been awarded the engineering, procurement and installation contract for the development of subsea infrastructure for the field, located in the Walker Ridge area in a water depth of approximately 2,896 m (9,500 ft). The development will host the deepest FPSO unit in the world, as well as being Shell’s first FPSO in the GoM.

Technip will be in charge of installing the subsea production system and Stones’ lateral gas pipeline. The contractor’s operating centre in Houston will perform the overall project management.

Flowlines and risers will be welded at Technip’s spoolbase in Mobile, Alabama, before installation is performed during the second half of 2014 by the Deep Blue pipelay vessel.