Kashagan riser island taking shape above the rocks

摘要

A joint project team from Boskalis in the Netherlands and the Greek civil engineering contractor Archirodon is progressing well in its first season of work on the Kashagan field Riser Island (Complex D). Construction of an associated facility, Complex A, is also well advanced. The islands and their facilities have been designed to withstand one of the harshest offshore environments in the world. Kashagan is Kazakhstan's first offshore development. This part of the North Caspian is extremely shallow (average depth: 3.3 m) and is subject to weather extremes: violent storms in summer and winter temperatures as low as -40°. There are also significant fluctuations in water level and heavy drift ice during the winter months. Ice build-up is exacerbated through the combination of shallow water, low salinity, and low temperatures. The North Caspian is also an area of extreme environmental sensitivity. The Volga and Ural deltas flowing into the North Caspian are the sturgeon's main breeding grounds.