Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.18
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
In 2014 the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) plans to invest $327.2 million in the project for the construction in Azerbaijan of a new generation floating drilling rig, SOFAZ told Trend on Jan.16.
According to SOFAZ, in 2013 the fund allocated $215.6 million for the project. In total, in 2013 the Oil Fund planned to allocate 380.57 million manat for the construction of a new floating drilling rig.
"This is an investment project in which 10 percent of the equity accounts for SOCAR (the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) and the remaining 90 percent for SOFAZ," the fund stressed.
As the State Oil Fund said, in the future, after the completion of the construction of the new rig and its commissioning, the fund will receive dividends.
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.
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 Jan.18 is 0.7844 AZN/USD.
Translated by M.L.