The US$150 million project will see the fabrication of two harsh environment land drilling rigs with all the drilling support equipment. According to National Oilwell, AKOC has already paid up US$30 million.

In a statement National Oilwell’s President and CEO Peter Miller said, “We believe that [AKOC’s] selection of National Oilwell for this project is a testament to our expertise in designing and building harsh environment rigs and managing large, fast track design/build projects.”

“This type of major capital investment is indicative of many of the business opportunities we believe we will see over the next few years [and I] anticipate that the contract for this project will be finalised in early August,” he added.

The rigs which AKOC ordered are designed especially for the harsh weather conditions common in the area. According to National Oilwell, “These harsh environment module style rigs are specially designed to drill on artificial islands in the North Caspian Sea where the winter conditions are extremely challenging and very similar to the North Slope of Alaska.”

“This project specifies 3,000 horsepower rigs capable of drilling to depths of 25,000 - 30,000 feet that can be moved fully erect from well location to well location via rail.

“The rigs will be assembled and commissioned at National Oilwell facilities in Houston with equipment and products coming from the Company’s plants in Norway, Canada, China and the United States, and are expected to be shipped in the third quarter of 2005,” it added.