Operators plan new jack up for Caspian Sea

Azerbaijan's state oil firm and three foreign operators have agreed to share charter costs to enable the building of a new jack up drilling rig so they can begin exploration work in the Caspian Sea. The new rig will be owned and operated by the Sedco Forex unit of Schlumberger Ltd. under a 3-5 year contract let jointly by State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic (Socar), Elf Petroleum Lenkoran Talysh BV, Mobil Exploration & Producing Azerbaijan Inc., and Agip Azerbaijan BV.

June 22, 1998

2 min read

Azerbaijan's state oil firm and three foreign operators have agreed to share charter costs to enable the building of a new jack up drilling rig so they can begin exploration work in the Caspian Sea.

The new rig will be owned and operated by the Sedco Forex unit of Schlumberger Ltd. under a 3-5 year contract let jointly by State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic (Socar), Elf Petroleum Lenkoran Talysh BV, Mobil Exploration & Producing Azerbaijan Inc., and Agip Azerbaijan BV.

The hull of the rig will be built in Baku and the legs in Singapore, by Caspian Shipyards Co. and Keppel FELS Shipyard Ltd., respectively. The legs will be shipped to the Caspian Sea along the Volga-Don canal and joined to the hull in Baku.

The rig is due to be ready for service in late 2000.

Caspian operators are currently stymied by a lack of suitable drilling rigs in the region. The rig will be the only high-pressure/high-temperature unit operating in the Caspian. It will be built to the Mod-V design and capable of operating in 105 m of water.

Socar said Elf, Mobil, and Agip will use the new rig to drill on their respective production-sharing contract areas, allocated by the Azeri government in 1997 and 1998 (OGJ, Apr. 13, 1998, p. 34).