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Article: Shopping strategically, even before development approval formalised
- Article from:
- Press and Journal, The Aberdeen (UK)
- Article date:
- February 5, 2007
CopyrightCopyright 2007 Press and Journal, The Aberdeen (UK). Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Even before the DTI gave the green light, Doble and his team were
out shopping for long lead items and, crucially, steel, having
foreseen the tightening market for that particular commodity.
"We had started negotiating some of the equipment even before we
had secured approval internally - items like gas turbines,
compressors, separators - and we were out to tender for steel on the
basis we would fix the design on what was bought. The original idea
was that we would design the topsides, then we would know what pipe
thicknesses to buy. But reality was that we didn't have the luxury of
doing that any more. It was a case of securing the steel based on an
outline. We placed the jackets contract ...