KBR and State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) joint venture, SOCAR-KBR Limited Liability Company (SKLLC), has received a contract from undisclosed customer to build the topsides for first development phase of the Absheron gas and condensate field offshore Azerbaijan.
Located approximately 100km south of Baku, Azerbaijan, in the Caspian Sea, the Absheron field is expected commence gas production in 2019. It is estimated to have initial production capacity of five billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas annually.
Total operates the Absheron field with a 40% stake while other partners include Socar with 40% stake and Engie with 20% interest.
Under the front-end engineering design (FEED) contract, SKLLC will provide topsides for the platform, which will be located at Socar's Oil Rocks facility and will be used to transfer gas and condensate into the Socar network.
The platform's topsides will be built as part of the $1bn first development phase of the Absheron field.
In 2016, Socar and Total signed an agreement on the main contractual and commercial principles for the first development phase of the Absheron field.
The first phase of the field development program includes drilling of one well at a water depth of 450m with target to produce around 35 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day, including a significant portion of condensate.
According to estimates, the field contains 350 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas as well as more than 45 million tons of gas condensate.