Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend / Having recently bid farewell to the Drilling, Utilities and Quarters (DUQ) topsides fabricated for the Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) operated by BP, and McDermott Caspian Contractors, Inc. (McDermott), the Caspian operating subsidiary of J. Ray McDermott, S.A., has completed the major fabrication work for the BP-operated Azeri, Chirag, and Deepwater Gunashli (ACG) field in the Azerbaijan section of the Caspian Sea.
DUQ integrated deck weighing more than 15,560MT, making it the fourth integrated topsides fabricated by McDermott at the Baku Deepwater Jacket Factory named after Heydar Aliyev (BDJF) for AIOC. In addition to the fabrication, hook-up, commissioning and load-out of the structure, McDermott will also undertake offshore hook-up, commissioning, and start-up assistance for DUQ.
"With the sail-away of the DUQ topsides, McDermott has achieved the significant milestone of completing major fabrication projects, within the agreed schedule, for the first three phases of the ACG development," commented Dan Houser, Vice President & General Manager of the Caspian operations. "In less than six years we have successfully completed a number of fabrication and pipeline installation projects for BP and AIOC including the construction of four topsides weighing more than 60,000t, as well as the installation of more than 1,000km of pipelines. Work on these projects was primarily done in Azerbaijan using the infrastructure, equipment, and skilled labor of BDJF."
Upgrading local infrastructure at the BDJF and collaborating with local partners were key aspects of these projects' success. McDermott performed incremental upgrades and established a full project infrastructure at BDJF as part of its previous topsides fabrication contracts with AIOC. Nearly 24mln man-hours were expended on the topsides fabrication, and approximately 80% of the work was completed by local Azerbaijani labourers.