Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 3
By Maksim Tsurkov – Trend:
The construction of Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR’s new generation oil platform, which is being carried out in Baku, has been accelerated, a source familiar with the work told Trend Aug. 3.
The source said that the platform’s construction is continuing according to the plan.
“Assembly operations are likely to be completed until the October,” noted the source. “After that, testing of the platform’s various elements will be conducted that will take some time.”
The source added that the installation of a derrick has already been completed on the platform.
“A derrick of Norway’s MHWirth company has been installed,” said the source.
Construction of the first new generation drilling rig for SOCAR started in 2013. It is expected that the construction will be completed in late 2016. The new rig is designed for drilling of wells with a depth of up to 8,000 meters at a sea depth of 1,000 meters.
Construction work is being carried out in the construction territory Azerbaijan’s Caspian Shipyard Company LLC. Caspian Drilling Company Ltd (CDC, 92.44-percent share is owned by SOCAR) is the drilling operator. Contractor of the drilling rig’s construction is Singapore’s Keppel FELS Ltd company.
The cost of the new generation floating drilling rig construction project is nearly $1.117 billion. The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) has allocated $770.1 million for the project since the beginning of the rig’s construction.
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