Shah Deniz 2 vessel Khankendi launched

The Shah Deniz consortium launched Khankendi, a new state-of-the-art subsea construction vessel, for the giant Shah Deniz 2 project in the Caspian Sea. 

Khankendi. Image from BP Twitter.

The flagship vessel was specifically designed and built to install the biggest subsea production system in the Caspian Sea as part of the Shah Deniz Stage 2 project. 

The official inauguration of the US$378 million vessel took place in Baku today (6 September).

Khankendi will be deployed to the Shah Deniz field where it is expected to perform subsea installation and construction work over the next 11 years, according to BP.

The vessel is 155m in length and 32m in width, with 2000sq m of deck space. It has a total weight of 17,600-tonne, a carrying capacity of 5000 metric tonne at 6.5m draft and two engine rooms with 6 x 4.4 MW and 2 x 3.2 MW generators. 

Khankendi is equipped with dynamic positioning to allow working in 3.5m significant wave height, a 900-tonne main crane capable of placing 750-tonne subsea structures down to 600m below sea level, an 18-man two-bell diving system, two work-class ROVs and a strengthened moon pool. The vessel can carry out complex activities without the need for anchors.

The vessel has a maximum capacity of 175 people on board, including the marine crew and discipline specialists.

“We are proud to deliver this complex and truly multi-functional vessel, capable of installing the latest subsea production technology in the Caspian as part of the giant Shah Deniz Stage 2 project,” says Gary Jones, regional president for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey for BP, operator of the Shah Deniz consortium. “This is another great milestone for Shah Deniz, achieved in cooperation with a local service company, and we look forward to the essential support the Khankendi will provide.”

Shah Deniz is about 70km offshore Baku in 50-500m water depth, and is one of the largest gas-condensate fields in the world with 40 Tcf – over 1 Tcm of gas in place. Shah Deniz 2 will add a further 16 Bcm/y of gas production to the approximately 9 Bcm/y by Shah Deniz Stage 1.

Khankendi was designed and built by the Baku Shipyard -  a joint venture of SOCAR, the Azerbaijan Investment Co. (AIC), and Keppel O&M.

The Shah Deniz consortium consists of: operator BP (28.8%), TPAO (19%), Petronas (15.5%), AzSD (10.0 %), Lukoil (10%), NICO (10%) and SGC Upstream (6.7%).

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