Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15
By Aygun Badalova - Trend:
The construction of a new modern drilling rig for the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) is expected to be completed by late 2016, the Caspian Shipyard Company (CSC) President Chandru Sirumal Rajwani told Trend Oct. 15.
The rig's construction project is operated by the Caspian Drilling Company (CDC), where a 92.44-percent share is owned by the SOCAR. The Singapore-based company Keppel FELS Limited was chosen as the rig construction contractor. In June 2013, the CDC signed an agreement with this company for the construction work.
"The work for construction of the new rig started in 2013, and will be completed by the end of 2016," Rajwani said.
The construction also includes commissioning and testing works that are to be carried out in few months. The construction is being conducted at SOCAR's new shipyard in Baku and at the CSC's building site.
The new rig is designed for drilling wells at a depth of up to 8,000 meters and at a water depth of 1,000 meters.
In particular, the rig will be used for drilling at prospective structures and fields in Azerbaijan, such as the Umid field and the promising structures Babek, Karabakh, Ashrafi and others.
The cost of the new modern drilling rig construction project is $1,116,700,000.
Azerbaijan needs to build 4 new floating drilling rigs given the realization of large projects in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, in particular drilling at the prospective Babek structure, the Absheron gas and condensate field development, and the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz gas and condensate field's development etc.