Page 34: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Oct/Nov 2013)

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Drilling

Growing the Caspian’s

The Caspian Sea is experiencing growing drilling demand and attracting interest small rig market from major oil companies.

By Victor Schmidt inland barge. Parker Drilling operates he Caspian Sea is a land-locked (1 jackup). In addition, Kazakhstan’s a competitive inland barge, interior basin with established Teniz Burgylau LLP, a subsidiary of

Parker oil and gas production that national company KazMunaiGas JSC,

Rig 257

T , that can drill to 30,000ft in has seen increasing activity since the is building a new independent-leg, 18ft of water. Teniz Burgylau operates bordering nations gained indepen- cantilever jackup of KFELS B design. the other barge, a non-competitive dence from the former USSR in the The rig will be rated to 262ft water submersible - ,

Caspian Explorer late 1990s. Five nations surround the depth for drilling to 20,000ft, but dedicated for the Zhambyl project off sea: Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, the rig is upgradeable to 400ft water

Kazakhstan. That rig is for near-shore

Iraq, and Azerbaijan. National oil depth. The Keppel Kazakhstan yard work in up to 8ft water depth, for companies (NOC) control the drilling in Aqtua, Kazakhstan is building the drilling to a maximum 6000ft drilled market, so there are limited opportuni- US$240million jackup for delivery in depth.

ties for competitive drilling. But with Caspian Drilling Co. Ltd., based in 1Q 2015. the entry of international oil compa- Baku, Azerbaijan, controls the semisub Eurasia Drilling added the

Neptune nies, drilling demand is increasing and market with four rigs and it is build- jackup to its feet in early July and is requiring additional rigs. ing a ffth, a Keppel FELS DSS 38M building an additional rig that will design with a 3000ft water depth rating enter the market next year. According

The total number of drilling units and 40,000ft drilling depth. Keppel to news reports, Lukoil president Vagit is small, only 28 rigs in all, accord-

Caspian Shipyard Co. in Azerbaijan Alekperov said that Lukoil intends ing to Rigzone. The feet is composed is building the US$800million rig, to drill the Khazri structure in the of 7 semisubmersibles, 11 jackup which is scheduled for delivery 4Q Caspian Sea at the end of 2013, using drilling rigs, 2 inland barges, and 8 2016. The semisub will have an 800m, the Neptune jackup. The company platform rigs. The State Oil Company eight-point mooring system to hold the also plans to use the rig to drill the of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) vessel on station during the Caspian’s Titonskaya structure in 2014.

controls 17 of the rigs: 3 semisubs, 6 high-speed winds, and 7m-deep pon- Aside from the NOCs, several major jackups, and 8 platform rigs. Add in toons for transit through shallow-draft oil companies are actively exploring

Kazakhstan’s one inland barge and channels. and developing drilling plans with the NOC-controlled component rises

The jackup market is divided their local partners for the Caspian to 18 rigs, or 64% of the rigs in the between four players: Russia’s Eurasia including Statoil, ExxonMobil, Shell,

Caspian.

Drilling Co. Ltd. (EDC, with 3 jackups); CNPC, Lukoil, Conoco Mubaddala,

The remaining third is the com-

Dubai-based Momentum Engineering Total, Petronas, Dragon, and Turkmen petitive feet, which includes four (1 jackup); Iran’s North Drilling Co. Exploration. semisubs, fve jackups, and one

OE | October 2013 oedigital.com 36 036_OE1013_D&C1-Caspian.indd 36 9/29/13 4:51 PM