Offshore operations have started today in Astrakhan to transport two offshore facilities built by order of LUKOIL for field infrastructure development at the Vladimir Filanovsky field located in the Caspian Sea. They are substructures for the living quarters module platform (LQP-1) and riser block (RB).

These facilities will soon be towed to the field and affixed to the seafloor in the immediate vicinity of the substructures for the soon to be completed ice-resistant stationary platform (IRP-1).

Two substructures for the LQP-1 with a total weight of more than 2,000 tons are affixed to the seafloor with 16 piles that will be hammered into the seafloor 60 meters down. The RB substructure is fixed with 8 pillars with a diameter of approximately 2 meters.

The offshore facilities are assembled by means of a Transport and Installation Barge (TIB), which has a crane with a loading capacity of 400 tons.

The assembly of the substructures for IRP-1, LQP-1 and RB at the field will be followed by the assembly of the substructures for the central processing platform (CPP).

Assembly of topsides for IRP-1, LQP-1, RB and CPP, as well as the catwalk bridges to connect them is scheduled for 2014.

All of the offshore facilities for the Vladimir Filanovsky field are manufactured by Astrakhan’s shipbuilding enterprises by order of LUKOIL.

Commercial drilling at the Vladimir Filanovsky field is scheduled to begin in 2014. Oil production is to begin by the end of 2015.