Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.19
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Caspian Drilling Company (CDC), operator of three floating semi-submersible drilling rigs in Azerbaijan, plans to use all of those rigs in the Caspian Sea in 2018, a source in the country’s oil and gas market told Trend.
CDC, with 92.44 percent of shares owned by Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR, is the operator of semi-submersible drilling rig named after Heydar Aliyev, “Dede Gorgud” and “Istiglal”.
“The semi-submersible drilling rig named after Heydar Aliyev will soon start operation at Absheron gas field under the contract with French Total company. “Istiglal” rig continues to operate at Shah Deniz field under the contract with BP,” said the source.
The source went on to add that as for “Dede Gorgud”, talks are underway with Norway’s Statoil for drilling work at Karabakh oil field in 2018.
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.
Construction of Heydar Aliyev new-generation semi-submersible floating drilling rig for SOCAR started in 2013 and the rig was commissioned in May 2017. The drilling rig is designed to drill wells with a depth of 12,000 meters at a sea depth of 1,000 meters. The maximum depth of the Caspian Sea is 1,025 meters.
“Istiglal” rig, built in 1991, is able to operate at a sea depth of up to 700 meters.
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