Azerbaijan's SOCAR and US engineering house KBR's joint venture has been awarded a front end engineering and design (FEED) contract for topsides on Total's Absheron Early Production Project.
The platform will be at SOCAR's Oil Rocks facility and will deliver gas and condensate into the SOCAR network.
Last November, Total and national oil company SOCAR, agreed on terms for a first phase of production of the high-pressure Absheron gas and condensate field, which was discovered in the Caspian Sea by Total in 2011.
At the first stage, the field development includes drilling one well at a depth of 450m. The extraction will amount to 1.5 Bcm of gas a year, or 35,000 boe/d, as well as significant amounts of condensate. First gas could be produced as early as 2019.
This first phase of production will also enable a dynamic appraisal of the field for future phases. Total is the operator of Absheron with a 40% interest alongside SOCAR (40%) and ENGIE (20%).
The contract is the joint venture's third award since its inception in mid-2015.