The Honeywell Industry Solutions business has received an $11.4 million order for automation systems and services in support of the Magnolia Deepwater Development Project operated by Conoco Inc, a subsidiary of ConocoPhillips.

Honeywell, a firm worth $8 billion, is engaged in providing products and services to create environments to help business and industry improve productivity and profitability.

The Magnolia development, located 180 miles off the coast of Louisiana, US, is the initial development project in ConocoPhillips' Deepwater Gulf of Mexico program.

Honeywell will supply a variety of services for the Magnolia project, manage all project relationships connected to automation, and implement its next-generation system for process control-the Experion PKS Process Knowledge System, reports say.

The firm will effect seamless integration with the engineering contractors for the offshore platform topsides, marine, and living quarters, as well as with the information technology and telecommunications contractor.

John Ford, Conoco Inc's Magnolia Offshore Installations manager, is reported to have said that Honeywell offers today's best-in-class technologies.

"In addition, we like the fact that Honeywell is focused on delivering business results, as is evidenced by their business consulting capabilities.

"Honeywell also has a long history of executing successful Conoco projects."

Jack Bolick, president of Honeywell Industry Solutions, is quoted as saying, that "as both automation consultant and supplier, we'll be looking to maximise business results for ConocoPhillips.

"We're also pleased this project will be utilising Experion PKS, our next generation system."

Besides delivering multiple, integrated Experion PKS systems, Honeywell scope of supply includes the FSC safety system, Uniformance PHD historian software, and asset manager PKS asset management applications.

Services also include business consulting, project management, design and detailed engineering, configuration, testing, integration with business systems, installation support, commissioning, startup support and life-cycle services and support over the expected 20-year life of the asset.

The Magnolia project is planned for completion with first oil in the fourth quarter of 2004.

Meanwhile, Conoco's newly developed ultra-deepwater drillships, built in partnership with Transocean Sedco Forex, are capable of drilling in waters 10,000 feet deep.

The ships ensures the company's access to deepwater holdings in the Gulf of Mexico and other parts of the world.

Conoco claims that its deepwater acreage position is the industry's largest on a global basis and the seventh largest in the Gulf of Mexico.

Designed to be the safest and most technologically advanced drillships in the world, the two ships, Deepwater Pathfinder and Deepwater Frontier depend on satellite and ocean-bottom positioning systems to remain precisely in position, even in harsh weather, Conoco claims.

The double-hulled ships have triple redundancy of critical operating and safety systems.

Conoco's domestic marine operations (DMO) has also passed the American Bureau of Shipping's International Safety Management (ISM) audit, making it the second major oil-company to have its inland barge operation ISM certified.

"This raises the bar of excellence for the inland barge industry," Antonio Valdes, president and manager of Conoco Marine, has said.

"The DMO organisation made a strategic decision to proactively pursue a voluntary certification for the inland fleet."

Conoco's international fleet is required by maritime law to maintain this certification.