SOCAR AQS and KCA Deutag formed a joint venture that will target existing and future opportunities in the offshore and onshore Caspian drilling and engineering market. The joint venture will be called Turan Drilling & Engineering Company LLC.    

Turan Drilling & Engineering Company will create an excellent platform for businesses to work together and grow operations in Azerbaijan, combining KCA Deutag’s expertise as one of the world’s leading drilling and engineering contractors with SOCAR AQS’s unrivaled knowledge, experience and infrastructure in the Caspian region.   

The Joint Venture, headquartered in Baku, Azerbaijan, will focus on provision of oil and gas well drilling and engineering services in the Caspian offshore and certain parts of the Central Asia region.  

Turan Drilling & Engineering Company LLC will be committed to investing in the local community through the employment and development of Azerbaijani nationals and services.  

Commenting on today’s announcement KCA Deutag CEO Norrie McKay said: “This is an exciting step in the group’s strategy to develop our business in the Caspian region. It brings together two businesses with complementary skillsets, which we believe will strengthen our offering to clients, and enable us to jointly expand our footprint in the region.”   

The KCA Deutag group currently employs approximately 780 people in Azerbaijan, 79% (seventy-nine percent) of whom are Azerbaijani nationals.  The group has been operating in the country since 1995 when it was awarded its first drilling contract and has a twenty-year history of working in Azerbaijan providing design, construction support, platform services, commissioning and brownfield engineering services through its RDS and Offshore business units.

The SOCAR AQS management stated that signing of a joint venture agreement today is a remarkable event in the history of the Oil & Gas industry of Azerbaijan. The joint venture we have established today will be the Azerbaijani company, which integrates the capabilities and experience of SOCAR AQS and KCA Deutag, operating in full compliance with all international standards and best practices. This company, which will provide the most advanced drilling and engineering services for its customers and play an important role in the development of the drilling industry in the country and region.

SOCAR AQS is an integrated drilling and well services company established in 2007 by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and Absheron Qazma (AQS). Currently, SOCAR AQS executes oil and gas well drilling on 5 platforms with 6 rigs on 4 offshore oil and gas fields, including Shallow Water Gunashli, West Absheron, Umid and Bulla.  

SOCAR AQS’s shareholders are SOCAR and Nobel Oil Services.