KBR Joint Venture Wins Absheron Design Job
A joint venture of US engineering contractor KBR has won a front-end engineering design (Feed) contract at the Total-run Absheron field.
Socar-KBR (SKLLC), a joint venture of KBR and Azerbaijan's state Socar, has been awarded Feed for the topsides of the platform needed for the offshore Absheron phase 1 project that aims to produce 1.5bn m3/yr gas and 700,000 metric tons/yr condensate from a single well by late 2019, said KBR November 22.
Drilling of the well is expected to start January 2018, and KBR says first gas could be produced in 2019. The platform will be located at Socar's Oil Rocks facility, outside of the Absheron field in shallow waters in Azerbaijan’s part of the Caspian Sea
This award marks the third award to the SKLLC joint venture since its inception in mid-2015. SKLLC was formed to develop Azerbaijan's petroleum engineering capabilities. KBR has participated as a contractor in Azerbaijan’s Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli block (ACG) and Shah Deniz gas field since 1994.
The Absheron deposit is located 100 km east of Baku, where the sea depth reaches 550 meters. Reserves are estimated at 350bn m3 of gas and 45mn metric tons condensate. The second phase Absheron development aims to produce further 3.5bn m3/yr gas by 2022.
KBR's president for Europe, Middle East and Africa Jay Ibrahim said that its local engineering capability was growing day by day and that currently more than 75% of its team are local Azerbaijani staff, adding that the value of the contract will be booked into the backlog of KBR orders in 4Q2017.
Separately, KBR earlier this month announced it has been awarded a contract to provide engineering support services for operations for Abu Dhabi Gas Development Company (Al Hosn Gas), a 60/40 joint venture of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and US independent Occidental. No contract value details were provided for either this, or the Absheron topsides Feed, contracts.