My name is Arjan van den Brink (21) and I'm studying civil engineering at Windesheim in Zwolle. This is a school for higher professional education where I'm a 3th year student. The first two years of my study were a common part with basic subjects about all different sides of civil engineering. After my current internship I have plans to specialize in construction, and after that I would like to study at Delft University of Technology. The common purpose of this internship is to get a first experience and more knowledge about a subject which I like. Another goal is to get an overall picture of the different types of jobs within an engineering company.

There are several reasons why I’m doing this internship abroad. I never traveled around the world and want to know more about living outside Europe and the western culture. Besides that I also wanted to develop my technical knowledge in combination with offshore constructions. So when I spoke with an employee of Witteveen+Bos and he offered me this opportunity I was convinced this would be a great and informative experience for me. Other reasons for an internship abroad are to improve my English skills and of course to know more about other cultures, languages and habits.
 

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.