Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.19
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
Construction of the first new generation drilling rig of SOCAR (The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic) in Azerbaijan is carried out without delay and in accordance with the established schedule, a source familiar with the work told Trend Dec.18.
The source said that the construction of a new rig, as it was previously envisaged, will be completed in late 2016.
"Construction of the rig began in December 2014 and will last three years according to the schedule," said the source.
The new rig is designed for drilling wells at depths up to 8,000 metres and at a water depth of 1,000 metres.
Construction work is underway on both the new Baku shipbuilding plant of SOCAR and the construction site of Caspian Shipyard Company LLC.
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 firm Keppel FELS Limited is chosen as the plant construction contractor. In June 2013, CDC signed an agreement with this company for the construction work.
The cost of a new generation rig construction project in Azerbaijan is $1.116.7 million.
In particular, the rig will be used for drilling at prospective structures and fields in Azerbaijan, such as the Umid field and the promising structures Babek, Karabakh, Ashrafi and others.
Azerbaijan must build four new floating drilling rigs taking into account the implementation of big projects in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, in particular drilling on the prospective Babek structure, the Absheron gas condensate field development, implementation of the second stage of developing Shah Deniz gas condensate field and other projects.
Edited by CN
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