Baku, Azerbaijan, April 30
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
The construction of a new generation floating drilling rig of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan can be completed by the end of 2016, a source in the oil and gas market told Trend.
The construction process also envisages commissioning and testing works within a few months. The new installation is designed for drilling wells up to 8000 meters at a depth of 1000 meters.
The construction will take place both on the new Baku shipyard of SOCAR, and on the construction site of Caspian Shipyard Company Ltd.
"The construction work, which began last year still continues, and will be completed in 2016," the source said.
The first drilling rig of the new generation will be built for SOCAR's needs.
The operator of the drilling rig will be the Caspian Drilling Company (CDC) where a 92.44 percent share is owned by SOCAR. Singapore Keppel FELS Limited company has been chosen as the plant construction contractor. The CDC signed an agreement with the company for the construction work on June 2013.
As the head of SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev said earlier, the cost of a new floating drilling rig including taxes will exceed $1billion.
The new installation will be designed for drilling wells at depths up to 8000 metres and at a water depth of 1000 metres. Construction of the installation is to be completed in 2016.
In particular, the installation will be used for drilling on prospective structures and fields in Azerbaijan, such as the Umid field and the promising structures Babek, Karabakh, Ashrafi and others.
Considering the implementation of major projects in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea and in particular drilling on the prospective Babek structure, the Absheron gas condensate field development and implementation of the second stage of development of Shah Deniz gas condensate field and other projects, Azerbaijan needs to build four new floating drilling rigs.
Translated by S.I.
Edited by S.I.
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