Benthic bags geotechnical work in the Caspian Sea

Geosciences company Benthic has secured a contract for an offshore geotechnical investigation at the proposed Azeri Central East platform location in the Caspian Sea.

The proposed platform,  to be located in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea will be operated by Azerbaijan International Oil Company.

Benthic said on Monday it would execute the geotechnical scope of work from aboard Topaz Energy and Marine’s Caspian Supporter AHTS vessel in the first quarter of 2018.

The Benthic Portable Remotely Operated Drill (PROD) will collect a number of geotechnical borehole samples and PCPT samples across the pipeline, platform and pipeline crossing location.

Following the completion of offshore operations and laboratory testing, relevant geotechnical data reports will be prepared.

FEED awarded

It is worth reminding that KBR in a joint venture with Socar was recently awarded two separate Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) contracts for the Azeri Central East (ACE) production, drilling, quarters (PDQ) platform.

The ACG field is located about 100km east of Baku and is the largest oilfield in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian basin.

The contracts, which were awarded by the Azerbaijan International Oil Company, cover the provision of FEED services for the new platform, along with associated brownfield tie-ins to other existing platforms in the ACG field, and a separate contract for the subsea services FEED.

In related company news, Benthic was awarded a contract last month by a subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum for geotechnical survey operations off the coast of Mozambique.

Offshore Energy Today Staff