Russian licensing authority Rosnedra awarded Lundin Petroleum a production license for the Morskaya field in the northern Caspian Sea. The production license, in the Lagansky Block, will be valid until 2035 and covers about 50sq km. The Morskaya field…
LUKOIL-Nizhnevolzhskneft established a new world record in horizontal drilling with a significant bottom displacement. Well No. 108, drilled from an offshore ice-resistant stationary platform at Yuri Korchagin field in the Caspian Sea, went down 4908m in the 9…
BP and the state oil company of the Republic of Azerbaijan, SOCAR signed a production sharing agreement (PSA) for the exploration and development of the potential prospects in the shallow water area around the Absheron Peninsula located in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea…
Saipem, through its subsidiary ERSAI Caspian Contractor, has been awarded a major new engineering and construction contract in the Caspian region worth US$1 billion. The contract scope includes yard engineering, fabrication and precommissioning activities…
Dubai based offshore fabrication firm Lamprell has completed the second Caspian Sea jackup drilling rig, the Mercury. Lamprell said completion of the rig, the EDC-2, built for Eurasia Drilling, was a milestone for the group, particularly as it has been built under challenging conditions…
Russian national Rosneft and private oil giant Lukoil have started drilling appraisal well №. 1 at the Caspian Oil Co.-operated Ribachya structure in the North Caspian project license. Total prospective resources of the block are estimated at 1…
First steel cut on two supply vessels for Russia's Lukoil has started at Keppel Nantong Shipyard Co.'s yard in Nantong on 18 June. The two Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS) class vessels have been designed to supply resources…
Eni signed a strategic agreement with KazMunayGas (KMG), which will result in KMG and Eni each holding 50% of exploration and production rights in Isatay, an offshore exploration area in the north Caspian Sea. The block is 45km north of the Bozashi peninsula…
The North Caspian Operating Co. BV (NCOC) appointed ExxonMobil secondee Stephane de Mahieu as managing director effective 1 May. De Mahieu succeeds Pierre Offant, who was appointed managing director of NCOC in 2008, after the Republic…
Iran's oil production will reach 4 million barrels per day (bpd) by the end of the current Persian calendar year in March 2015, a senior Iranian oil official said. Mohsen Qamsari, director for international affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC)…
RWE Dea and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) have signed a joint study agreement to evaluate the hydrocarbon prospectivity in an area south of Baku in the Caspian Sea. The agreement was regarding the joint evaluation…
The Kashagan oilfield development in Kazakhstan may be delayed to restart if testing next month reveals that cracks remain in the offshore portion of its pipeline. According to the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) sulphur-stress cracking “is the root cause of the pipeline issues…
Russia’s Lukoil has commissioned Ramboll to perform pre-front end engineering and design (FEED) studies for the Yuri S. Kuvykin field in the Russian sector of the north Caspian Sea. Ramboll’s work will focus on a drilling complex and topside living quarters…
Middle East-based offshore support vessel company Topaz Energy and Marine has acquired two large and modern anchor handling towage and supply vessels (AHTSV) for about US$100 million. The vessels, the Caspian Challenger and the Caspian Endeavour…
PD&MS Energy has secured a three year contract to provide platform engineering services and upgrades for BP-operated projects in the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey region (AGT). The Aberdeen-based firm has options to extend the contract by an additional five years…