The Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) is pleased to announce that the jacket for the Central Azeri Production, drilling and quarters (CA-PDQ) platform sailed away yesterday, March 9, from the Baku Deepwater Jackets Factory (BDJF) yard to be installed at its permanent location in the Azeri field.

The CA PDQ jacket is the largest ever structure to be installed in the Caspian Sea. It has been fully assembled in the country using local construction infrastructure including BDJF facilities. The total weight of the jacket is 14,130 tonnes including the flotation tanks. The height of the jacket is 143 metres, and it will be installed at a water depth of 120 metres. The jacket has 12 piles, each 146 metres long, with a total weight of 8,100 tonnes.

Once the jacket arrives at the Central Azeri site it will be installed over the template at the platform location, through which 12 well have already been drilled.

The transportation and installation of the jacket will use a number of SOCAR/KMNF vessels including the two principal installation vessels Derrick Barge Azerbaijan (DBA) and STB-1 launch barge. The DBA has been extensively upgraded to undertake the installation work, including main crane refurbishment, upgraded mooring system and helideck. The STB-1 barge, which was originally designed to transport and launch jackets up to 18,000 tonnes also underwent an extensive refurbishment and deck-strengthening programme and this required a total of 1300 tonnes of steelwork.

The jacket transportation activities are also supported by two high capacity tugs-the Islay and the Jura. These are two identical vessels leased from the KMNF/BUE alliance fleet. The tugs are required to tow the STB-1 to the offshore site safely as the jacket’s exposed windage area is very high. Other marine vessels involved in towage, anchor handling and supply boat trips are the Nercha, the Pacific Raider, the Neftegas 58, the Svetlomor-2 and the Irgiz.

The installation work has been carefully planned and it is expected to take from 35 days to two months to complete including allowance of the weather conditions.

Onboard the DBA a multinational team of nearly 200 personnel will be involved in the jacket installation. More than 50% of the total workforce will be Azerbaijan nationals. The jacket transportation and offshore installation works is undertaken by Saipem, AIOC Transport and Installation contractor.

Neil Shaw, Vice-President, AC Project, said: “This is a day we have been looking forward to since the beginning of the construction activities and I would like to recognize the tremendous efforts of a large number of people who have been involved working so hard to design the jacket, procure materials, construct the structure and set it onto the barge safely, and now sail it out to its location for installation. In particular, I would like to recognize KBR for the design work, BOS Shelf, who built the jacket, Saipem who engineered the jacket transport and installation and Global Maritime warranty. I would also like to thank SOCAR/BDJF and KMNF whose facilities and vessels have been a driving force in this truly international and world-class achievement.

“The offshore installation of this largest structure ever built in Azerbaijan, is new and challenging experience for the country with its partly innovative nature such as the wet towage of the piles, the first use in the Caspian of underwater hammers combined with vertical piles and the world-class subsea vehicles to be provided y an international contractor. With all this tremendous work achieved to date to the industry’s highest safety standards and with all the careful planning and preparation in place, I am confident that the safe offshore installation of the jacket will be another opportunity for us to celebrate in a month’s time.”