Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.26
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) has already invested 159.735,400 manat in the project for the construction in Azerbaijan of a new generation floating drilling rig, SOFAZ told Trend on Dec. 24.
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 per cent 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.
"As of December 20, SOFAZ allocated 159.735,400 manat to finance Azerbaijan's share in the construction of the new modern floating drilling rig in the Caspian Sea," the fund announced.
SOCAR head Rovnag Abdullayev said earlier that the cost of a new floating drilling rig including taxes will exceed $1 billion.
The new rig will be designed for drilling wells at depths up to 8,000 metres and at a water depth of 1,000 metres. The rig is planned to be constructed in 2016.
In particular, the rig 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.
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.
The official exchange rate on Dec.26 is 0.7845 AZN/USD.
Translated by M.L.
Edited by S.M.