Azernews.Az

BAKU – The Azerbaijan subsidiary of the industrial services company Hertel has won a contract from BOS Shelf for the $6 billion Chirag Oil project in the Caspian Sea. It will provide scaffolding access and specialist coatings for the construction of an 18,000 tons eight-legged jacket.

The 185m high jacket, which is expected to be delivered in late 2012, will be located in a water depth of 170m in the central Azeri field of the Caspian Sea. It is being built by BOS Shelf LLC, a company formed by the SAIPEM Group and Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR.

The jacket will be used by the Azerbaijan International Operating Company, the oil and gas consortium which includes BP, Chevron, Statoil and SOCAR.

Hertel established an office in Baku in 2009. It later acquired Swift Engineering, which provided a range of engineering and mechanical services in Azerbaijan. This has enabled Hertel to offer a range of services including design, fabrication, installation, blasting, coating and scaffolding.

Since having a presence in Azerbaijan, Hertel has worked on the refurbishment work on the Istiglal drilling rig and was awarded the contract for the Chirag Oil Project subsea template and scaffolding project. It currently employs around 150 people and its staff is expected to grow to 500 in 2011.

"The success in winning this latest contract justifies our decision to invest in Azerbaijan," said Eldar Azakov, General Manager at Hertel Azerbaijan. "Hertel’s experience in the offshore and oil and gas sectors, combined with the skills that came with the acquisition of Swift, means that we can provide a truly multi-discipline service."

Hertel was founded in 1895 as a supplier of gaskets to the maritime industry by Alexander Hertel in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Today, Hertel constructs, maintains, modifies and dismantles plants and installations for the oil and gas, offshore, process and power industries in Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East. Hertel also designs, fabricates and installs accommodation modules for offshore living quarters, containerized solutions for the defense industries, and blast proof accommodation for industrial areas.