‘Kazakhstan? How did you get by that?’ That’s the question I’ve heard the most in the past four months. The explanation:
I always wanted to have my internship abroad. So I sent my application form to several companies. I had response of most of them, but all for a trainee in the Netherlands. From Witteveen+Bos I had a special reaction. They offered me a trainee in Aktau, Kazakhstan. I was more thinking of America or Australia, but Kazakhstan...
But actually, why not? A total different country, with also a different culture. A lot of things to discover. And so I took the opportunity.

The project:
During my trainee I will work on the Caspian Sea project.
Beneath the Caspian Sea there are a several oil fields. A co-operation of oil companies invested to create islands in the Caspian Sea. When the islands are completed, they can place there drilling machines on it and drill for oil. Witteveen+Bos is designer and adviser for the co-operation. They make drawings for the set-up of the islands but also make calculations. For example: What kind of Sheet piles do we need? What kind of forces work on it, how big are these forces. They also have to design the set-up and topside of the island: drainage, foundations, water intakes etc.
I'll have to make drawings, write technical notes, make some (small) calculations and more work I don't know about jet.

Description of project

Both the D Complex as the new islands are designed by order of a consortium of Kazakh and western oil companies with the aim to explore the oil reservoirs present in the northern part of the Caspian Sea. Although the general concept for building islands in the Caspian Sea has crystallised in the course of the years, each new island has its own challenges. The limited water depth in combination with waves and down surge at the Aktote and Kairan location limits the accessibility of these locations for construction vessels. Therefore, a detailed construction plan is required to make construction feasible. Located in relatively deep water, accessibility is no issue at Kalamkas. However, the island’s height required in this water depth is just within limits for the preferred island perimeter of a vertical retaining wall. For future maintenance the wells of EPC02 and 03 have to be located within the reach of a drill rig mounted on a cantilever barge. Therefore the wells are placed close to the outer perimeter of the island which asks for a design providing full protection of the wells against ice loading and encroachment.
Whereas for previous islands offshore pipelines and umbilicals tied in on the island with S-curved lines placed inside rock embankments, new developments ask for J tubes and vertical risers. At one hand these vertical risers have to move freely to allow thermal expansion, at the other hand the ris-ers have to be well protected against the floating ice fields in the Caspian during winter time.
It is obvious that all these works will strengthen the co-operation between the Kazakh and Dutch design teams even further, which will have a significantly positive impact on the development of WBK’s offices in Kazakhstan to a full-grown engineering company and a professional employer for Kazakh staff.