It marks the successful completion of the construction phase of a £40m project for Shell Expro by engineering firm SLP. The Carrack QA platform will link up with the Clipper PR platform at the Carrack field which lies around 75 miles north east of Bacton. About 500 people have been employed on construction of the two Carrack platforms at SLP's Hamilton Dock for the past year. A smaller number of staff will continue to work off-shore commissioning and hooking up the platforms. The 2075 tonne QA platform rig will be exporting gas via an 85km pipeline to the Sole Pit Clipper complex and from there to the Bacton gas terminal. Three wells will be drilled from the platform either this year or next, and the platform has extra capacity to increase the number of wells. The Clipper PR platform consists of a 1100 tonne topside and 600 tonne jacket and two bridges that weigh 25 tonnes and 35 tonnes. It has been taken to a location next to Shell's Sole Pit Clipper platform complex as a reception facility for the gas produced from Carrack. Carrack lies in a relatively remote area close to the UK/Dutch border. It has reserves of around 300 billion cubic feet. Following the completion of the Clipper contract workers are waiting to learn if SLP has succeeded in winning more contracts to build other platforms and rigs for oil and gas fields around the world. In recent years SLP has won work in countries such as Mexico, Iran and Russia. The firm is also heavily involved in renewable energy, with the growth of wind power off the East Anglian coast. SLP spokesman Russell Harper said the company was looking to win a number of contracts. "We are bidding for work over the UK and overseas, SLP has been particularly successful in working overseas, we are now an international company," he said. "We are now also entering the renewable market and noted with interest the Government's latest licensing round for offshore wind farms." P.I.N./Norfolk Eastern Daily Press, UK