Offshore staff

MOSCOW -- LUKOIL has completed the next phase of offshore construction operations at the Yuri Korchagin field in the Caspian Sea. This included loading, transportation, and assembly of the single-buoy mooring (SBM) elements.

The offshore ice-resistant fixed platform and SBM elements will be joined with a 30-cm (12-in.) diameter subsea pipeline, which has already been laid on the seafloor and is ready to be connected, the company says

The sea depth at the SBM assembly point is 20.5 m (67 ft). The SBM elevation above the sea level is 27.2 m (89 ft). The SBM jacket will be fixed to the seafloor with five piles.

Following SBM assembly, a floating storage unit with deadweight of 28,000 metric tons (30 864 tons) will be moored to it by means of custom devices.

Transportation of the platform with the drilling facilities is scheduled for the end of July. The facilities will be connected by a 74.2-m (243-ft) cross-over bridge.

The field is expected to be commissioned in December. The field’s estimated 3P reserves are 570 MMboe. The maximum production rate of oil and gas condensate will reach 2.3 million tons per annum and 1.2 bcm of gas per annum.

07/20/2009