Baku, Azerbaijan, June 12
By Maksim Tsurkov – Trend:
Azerbaijan’s ‘Dede Gorgud’ floating semi-submersible drilling rig has been cold stacked, a source on the country’s oil and gas market told Trend June 12.
Earlier it was reported that drilling operations were completed at the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block of oil and gas fields in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea by using the
‘Dede Gorgud’ drilling rig within the contract with BP, and the rig was warm stacked after the completion of the drilling.
“Currently, the ‘Dede Gorgud’ rig is at the Baku Shipyard LLC, and, considering that there are no orders for using the rig for now, it was decided to cold stack it,” the source said. “There is no information about any negotiations regarding the rig at the moment, but considering the decision of the rig’s operator, one can assume that no such discussions are held.”
Warm stacked rigs are standing ready for work if a contract can be obtained. The rigs are generally held in a ready stacked state if a contract is expected to be obtained relatively quickly.
Cold stacked rigs are shut down when the drilling rig owners do not expect rigs to be used for a long time.
The ‘Dede Gorgud’ floating semi-submersible drilling rig, built in 1980, can work at a depth up to 500 meters, while the depth of drilling operations reaches 6,100 meters.
The Caspian Drilling Company (CDC, 92.44 percent of which is owned by Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR) is the operator of the ‘Dede Gorgud’ drilling rig.