On September 19, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the groundbreaking of the Absheron jacket and other subsea facilities, constructed by SOCAR's BOS Shelf at the Baku Deepwater Jacket Plant.
The contract for the construction of the platform and related facilities to be operated in the Absheron field, developed by SOCAR and TOTAL's joint operator JOCAP, was given in 2018 to BOS Shelf, which has a longstanding experience in the implementation of Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli, Shah Deniz-2 and other projects.
First, the head of state watched a film about the Absheron field and the jackets for the future platform. He was informed that during the development of the Absheron project, BOS Shelf applied the turn-key project method for the first time in Azerbaijan, carrying out all Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Installation (EPCI) works.
The project’s visionary engineering reports were prepared by SOCAR's Oil and Gas Research Project Institute. The documents were delivered to Mareal and SOCAR KBR for the next phase of elaboration.
The platform to be constructed for gas production from the Absheron field is unique. The most innovative solutions have been developed for the Absheron project to manage the platform from the outside, i.e. from a module located in the Oil Rocks. The process of extracting gas from the field, as well as operations on the platform, will be supervised by a team of several operators on the Oil Rocks’ modernized module, which will help minimize the expenses. The location of this module 34 km from the well and 3 km from the platform will ensure safety and quality during gas production, processing and transportation.
For the first time in the Caspian Sea, the Absheron project will use pipe in pipe technology. Specially manufactured multi-layer insulated pipes will be used for the pipeline. For this purpose, production opportunities of Caspian Pipe Coating (CPC), a joint venture of SOCAR, were modernized. The modernization of CPC has made it possible to organize appropriate production in Azerbaijan, which will be used in the implementation of future oil and gas projects. Piping works will be carried out by a consortium with the participation of BOS Shelf via Israfil Huseynov vessel. The main equipment was imported from the United States, Germany, Italy, Singapore and other countries. Thousands of land, sea and air vehicles were involved in the transportation of the equipment.
The construction works include four main and six auxiliary jackets with a total weight of about 10,000 tons, bridges, overpasses, torch system, submarines, pipelines, modules. In the course of the project both Gurban Abasov vessel and the Azerbaijan crane ship is to be modernized, in order to increase its carrying capacity.
The Absheron gas field is located in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, 100 kilometers southeast of Baku at a depth of 500 meters. The field is expected to contain 350 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 45 million tons of condensate. The field is developed by SOCAR and TOTAL’s joint operator JOCAP. It is one of the largest gas and condensate fields of Azerbaijan and the largest one discovered jointly with TOTAL in the last decade. Its exploitation will contribute to Azerbaijan’s domestic natural gas supply.
Baku Deepwater Jacket Plant named after Heydar Aliyev has been playing an important role in the development of Azerbaijan's oil and gas sector since the 1980s. At the personal initiative and insistence of Heydar Aliyev, the USSR Council of Ministers decided to build a plant for the construction of deepwater jackets in Baku. In 1978, the construction of the Baku Deepwater Jacket Plant began.
The plant, built and commissioned in 1984 and capable of producing 60,000 tons of metal structures a year, has become a huge investment in the future of Azerbaijan's energy sector. Its strong production capacity has become a key element in the future success of SOCAR's BOS Shelf. Using the plant's infrastructure, BOS Shelf began implementing major projects. After becoming the Deepwater Jacket Platforms Plant’s operator, BOS Shelf started reconstruction works there. Under the management of SOCAR's BOS Shelf, the plant is gradually becoming the largest construction and installation company not only in Azerbaijan, but in entire Caspian region.
