About
Witteveen+Bos Kazakhstan has been responsible for all civil design works for the development of offshore hubs and drilling islands in the Caspian Sea since 2004. A hub consists of a number of offshore manmade islands where crude oil and gasses are collected, separated and pumped to onshore processing facilities. A number of barriers surround the hub to provide protection against waves and ice. The complex covers an area of approximately 1 by 2 km. Drilling islands are much smaller, 240 by 160 m and will house a drilling rig during 3-5 years, after which a production rig is installed. These drilling islands are partly protected from waves and ice by temporary rock barriers.Construction has started with placement of the rock fill just before the winter season (December - March) and will continue with installing the sheetpile retaining structures in April.
Engineering challenges are large ice loads on the retaining structures, a tight time schedule and the design of the point where connecting pipelines come ashore.
To further develop the oil fields in the North Caspian Sea Witteveen+Bos Kazakhstan will con-tinue with civil design activities for new islands. The designs for the hubs Complex A and D and drilling centre EPC3 are nearly complete, and drilling centre EPC2 is well under way.


