Chinese onshore drilling rig maker Honghua Group said it had signed its first offshore deal, to build a giant LNG facility in the Gulf of Mexico for US company Argo LNG Partners LLC, in a contract worth about $1.8 billion.

The deal was inked by Honghua's unit Shanghai Honghua Offshore Oil and Gas Equipment Co and Argo, and the first phase of construction is scheduled to take two to three years.

The liquefied natural gas facility will comprise four production platforms, four storage platforms, an accommodation platform, one central processing platform and a pier for LNG ships. Its annual processing capacity and storage capability will be up to 3.6 million metric tons and 240,000 cubic meters, respectively.