Fabrication, training investments aid on-time delivery of ACG topsides
Jennie Moss
AMEC
The BP-operated Azerbaijan International Operating Co. (AIOC) has loaded out the topsides for its compression and water-injection platform (C&WP). The AMEC-led ATA consortium designed and built the topsides for the Azeri Chirag Guneshi (ACG) oil field. These facilities are undergoing hook-up and commissioning, and will be operational later this year.
The AIOC delivered the C&WP to meet a demanding schedule. In this case, ATA had to upgrade the Azfen yard in Baku, which meant implementing major civil works, at the same time as recruiting and training the Azeri workforce and starting the deck build.
AMEC has been working in Azerbaijan for nine years, and is embarking on a second process, compression, water-injection and utilities (PCWU) platform, scheduled for completion early in 2008. In addition, AMEC has a long-term engineering and modification services (EMS) contract with AIOC, under which it will provide engineering and asset support services for existing and future offshore platforms in the ACG and Shah Deniz fields.
“It is unlikely that the current pace of offshore projects will continue past the ACG development,” says Chris Bond, AMEC’s CIS regional director for oil and gas. “Our business plan has been to build up extensive experience of doing work in Azerbaijan and good knowledge of the assets, leading to a long-term asset support business, which will act as a spring-board into neighboring countries.”
Delivering these services on schedule and at the standards expected by the client is a challenge. Azerbaijan is an emerging market, with limited resources, and local capacity to manufacture to global standards is still developing. Its location and climate mean that transporting equipment into the country can be difficult logistically. The canal to the land-locked Caspian is frozen in winter and road/rail transport can experience delays across difficult terrain.
AMEC’s approach to overcoming these difficulties is via the ATA consortium, a joint venture with Turkish construction company, Tekfen, and Azfen - an Azerbaijan-registered partnership between Tekfen and the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (Socar).
The AMEC-led ATA consortium designed and built the C&WP topsides for the Azeri Chirag Guneshi oil field.
AMEC provides consortium leadership, project management expertise, and experience in managing the development, maintenance, and modification of complex facilities. Tekfen brings specialist technical skills and offers valuable language and cultural links with the Azerbaijani workforce, which enhances the transfer of skills and technology. It also has a supply chain of specialist subcontractors and existing production facilities in Ceyhan, Turkey, where the primary steelwork is fabricated. Azfen supplies the vital local component. It ownes the existing fabrication yard in Baku, and has good relations with the local workforce and supply chain.
Development of Azfen’s yard into a world-class facility is part of AIOC’s strategy to invest in the local supply chain and develop a sustainable business in Azerbaijan. As a result, the upgraded yard now has the infrastructure to take on major fabrication work, both in Azerbaijan and in the wider Caspian market. Local suppliers are used where possible, and further materials and services are sourced from international companies based in Baku. All suppliers must demonstrate that they are transferring technology and skills to the local workforce, which in the long-term will lead to the start-up of local businesses that can meet the high standards of international oil companies.
“We can go world-wide for our requirements. The challenge is getting it delivered. You need to plan your requirements well in advance,” says Chris Dovell, president of AMEC’s Azerbaijan operations. “All our suppliers have established offices in Azerbaijan and we have used local companies where possible. With our partners, we have an understanding of how to get things here quickly.”
AIOC is also investing heavily in enhancing the competency and contribution of the local Azerbaijani workforce involved in the company’s construction activities. It has incorporated a training center into the fabrication facility, where around 1,400 personnel have been trained in trade skills that are transferable to other industries in Azerbaijan, such as welding, pipefitting, plating, and rigging. Safety training, conducted in four languages, resulted in an exceptionally high standard of safety performance during the C&WP topsides construction, including over six million man-hours worked without a lost-time incident.
“As part of our long-term EMS contract, AMEC has instigated a fully-structured graduate training program, which includes planned and mentored assignments to the UK,” says Chris Dovell. “The graduates initially take on professional engineering positions and our hope is that some of them will move forward to become project managers.”
ACG participating interests include operator BP 34.14%, Unocal 10.28%, Inpex 10%, Socar 10%, Statoil 8.56%, ExxonMobil 8.01%, TPAO 6.5%, Devon 5.63%, Itochu 3.92%, and Delta Hess 2.72%.•
