BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 12. The self-elevating floating drilling rig “Satti” (owned by Kazakhstan's KMG Drilling&Services), which has undergone some modernization in Baku, will start work at the Cheleken field on the Turkmen shelf of the Caspian Sea, an informed source told Trend.
“The Satti ROV for 2020-2023 was leased by Caspian Drilling Company from KMG Drilling&Services for exploration drilling in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea for bp. Following minor adjustments, it went to the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea to carry out drilling in the Cheleken field,” he said.
This jackup drilled exploration wells in the SWAP (Shallow Water Absheron Peninsula) area of Azerbaijan's Caspian sector during 2021-2022 by order of bp.
“The contract for work in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea is concluded for five years, the main customer for drilling is Dragon Oil (UAE), which has a long-term program of cooperation with the government of Turkmenistan on hydrocarbon projects,” the source noted.
To note, Dragon Oil has been working on the Cheleken contract area (950 square kilometers) in Turkmenistan's Caspian shelf since May 2000.
Turkmenistan and Dragon Oil extended the contract (for $1 billion) for Cheleken until 2035 in July 2022, and this extended PSA will commence in the spring of 2025.