[TheDude]

That caught my eye too. Surprised it didn't receive more comment - or is the cost of the titanium actually a minor factor? Found this one item. Dunno what the vertical scale on this graph is - cost in USD per meter? That would be about a measly 16 million for an 8000 meter long pipe.



Cost Comparisons between Carbon Steel and Titanium

Titanium vs Carbon Steel – A Cost Comparison Study for Offshore Pipework

Also from the TOD article:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he first well drilled in the Tupi field cost 240 million dollars, a number that fell to 60 million in later field assessments. A total of 15 wells were drilled through the salt layer with 8 of these reaching the hydrocarbon reservoir. Giuseppe Bacoccolli expects the costs to fall even further to 30 million dollars per well during commercial operation. Still a number that implies a base price of at least 30 dollars per barrel of oil produced, four times Petrobras' present cost of deep offshore production and not factoring in equipment costs. Bacoccolli thinks that the operations will require between 6 and 12 FPSO platforms, each connected to 10 to 15 wells.

[frankthetank]

All i know is titanium bicycles are expensive! Although so are Carbon bikes and GOOD steel bikes aren't cheap either. It still isn't going to be cheap and i'd love to see the finally bill on this thing.