BOS Shelf completes construction of jackets for Absheron field
19 September 2020
The operator of the Heydar Aliyev Baku Deep Water Jacket Factory, BOS Shelf has completed the construction of four main jackets and subsea structures for the Absheron field.
The field is located in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, at 500 m water depths and about 100 km south east of Baku. The reserves of the field are estimated at 350 billion m3 of gas and 45 million tons of condensate.
Absheron field is one of the largest gas-condensate fields in Azerbaijan, as well as the greatest discovery made by TOTAL in the past decade, being developed by JOCAP, a joint-venture company between SOCAR and TOTAL. The development of the field will provide a substantial contribution to meeting the growing domestic demand for natural gas in Azerbaijan.
In 2018, JOCAP awarded BOS Shelf a contract on construction of the Absheron platform and all the related structures, basing on the company’s extensive experience in the implementation of large-scale oil and gas projects, such as Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli and Shah Deniz-2.
EPCI
EPCI (Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Installation) format, which implies the execution of all work on the mentioned areas of activities within the “turn-key project” conception was applied by BOS Shelf in the framework of the Absheron project.
The conceptual engineering development of the Absheron project was carried out by SOCAR’s Oil and Gas Research and Design Institute. The further detailing development was implemented by SOCAR KBR and Mariel, the companies with a relevant experience in working on the international projects.
Absheron gas production platform can be considered as sui generis. Unlike most of previous developments initiated by local and international companies in Azerbaijan, Absheron project participants have for the first time developed an innovative solution of the remote control of the platform from the module located at the Oil Rocks. The process of gas production from the field, as well as the operations carried out on the platform, will be supervised by a team of several operators in the Oil Rocks module, modernized for the project. This will also lead to a significant time and cost saving. The module will be located 34 km from the well and 3 km from the platform, which will ensure the safety and quality of gas production, processing and transportation.
The project, for the first time in the Caspian Sea, envisages construction and installation of a 34 km pipeline with appliance of “pipe-in-pipe” technology by the consortium with the participation of BOS Shelf. The pipeline will also include Insulated Multilayer Pipes, produced by the consortium following the upgrade of the production facilities of Azerbaijan’s CPC (Caspian Pipe Coating) within the framework of the project. The CPC upgrade has allowed to reduce the import dependency for specialized pipes produced abroad and to launch the relevant production in Azerbaijan, contributing to the implementation of future oil and gas projects. The installation of the pipeline will be carried out by involvement of the Israfil Huseynov (PLBH) pipe-laying vessel.
Key equipment and materials for the project were delivered from dozens of countries, including the USA, Germany, Italy, Singapore and others. The transportation of the equipment was conducted via thousands of road, sea and air transport means.
Construction work has included the fabrication of four main and six mini jackets, bridges, piers, flare systems, subsea infrastructures, pipelines, modules with a total weight of about 10,000 tons, as well as the upgrade of Gurban Abasov vessel to DP3 level (Dynamic Positioning) with new thrusters, which allows the vessel to be used in offshore operations of the project for two years. Additionally, the "Azerbaijan" Crane Vessel will be recertified in order to increase its lifting capacity from the current 1,250 tons to 2,000 tons.
