The Shah Deniz consortium launched Khankendi, a new state-of-the-art subsea construction vessel, for the giant Shah Deniz 2 project in the Caspian Sea. The official inauguration of the $378 million vessel took place in Baku on 6 September, 2017.
The flagship vessel was specifically designed and built to install the biggest subsea production system in the Caspian Sea as part of the Shah Deniz Stage 2 project.
Khankendi will be deployed to the Shah Deniz field where it is expected to perform subsea installation and construction work over the next 11 years, according to BP.
The vessel is 155m in length and 32m in width, with 2000sq m of deck space.
It has a total weight of 17,600-tonne, a carrying capacity of 5000 metric tonne at 6.5m draft and 2 engine rooms with 6 x 4.4 MW and 2 x 3.2 MW generators.
Khankendi is equipped with dynamic positioning to allow working in 3.5m significant wave height, a 900-tonne main crane capable of placing 750-tonne subsea structures down to 600m below sea level, an 18-man 2-bell diving system, 2 work-class ROVs and a strengthened moon pool.
The vessel can carry out complex activities without the need for anchors and has a maximum capacity of 175 people on board, including the marine crew and discipline specialists.
«We are proud to deliver this complex and truly multi-functional vessel, capable of installing the latest subsea production technology in the Caspian as part of the Shah Deniz Stage 2 project,» said Gary Jones, regional president for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey for BP, operator of the Shah Deniz consortium.
Khankendi was designed and built by the Baku Shipyard - a joint venture of SOCAR, the Azerbaijan Investment Co. (AIC), and Keppel O&M.
The Shah Deniz consortium consists of: operator BP (28.8%), TPAO (19%), Petronas (15.5%), AzSD (10.0 %), Lukoil (10%), NICO (10%) and SGC Upstream (6.7%).
