A joint venture between Socar and KBR has been awarded a Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) contract for the topsides of the Absheron early production project located in the Caspian Sea offshore Azerbaijan.
This award marks the third award to the joint venture since its inception. The JV named Socar-KBR Limited Liability Company (SKLLC) was formed in 2015 to help further Azerbaijan’s ambition for creating an Azerbaijan-based engineering company.
French oil giant Total is the operator of Absheron field with a 40% interest alongside Azerbaijan’s Socar (40%) and Engie (20%).
The platform will be located at Socar’s Oil Rocks facility and will deliver gas and condensate into the Socar network, KBR informed on Wednesday.
Socar and Total signed a framework agreement in late 2016 on the main contractual and commercial principles regulating the program for the first phase of development of the Absheron field. At the first stage, the field development includes drilling one well at a depth of 450 meters. The extraction will amount to 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas a year, which will fully flow to the domestic market of Azerbaijan, as well as significant amounts of condensate. First gas could be produced in 2019.
KBR said that the value of the contract will be booked into the backlog of unfilled orders for KBR’s Engineering & Construction business segment in 4Q 2017.
Jay Ibrahim , KBR’s President for Europe, Middle East and Africa. “Azerbaijan is an important market for KBR and our strong Azerbaijani and international team members are dedicated to success for the region.”
Ibrahim continued: “Our local engineering capability is growing day by day and currently more than 75% of our team is local Azerbaijani staff.”