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LONDON, April 3 (Reuters) - British energy service firm WoodGroup said it had won a contract to support gas turbinesand compressors on Kazakhstan's troubled Kashagan oil field,where conditions make extreme demands on equipment.
The eight-year contract, which began in January, will beexecuted by a joint venture between Wood Group and Kazakhservice firm KazTurboRemont.
It is the biggest contract to date won by Wood Group's gasturbines division - GTS - and will involved maintaining andrepairing 15 gas turbines, as well as all driven equipment,steam turbines, standby diesels and compressors, the companysaid on Thursday.
Kashagan, a $50 billion project that is expected to produce75,000 barrels per day, has been offline since October whenonshore pipes carrying corrosive gases sprang leaks and broughtproduction to a halt just one month after the start-up. Noproblems have been reported with the compressors.
The project is among one of the world's most technologicallyambitious, with the oil 4,200 metres (4,590 yards) below theseabed at very high pressure and the associated gas mixed withsome of the highest concentrations of toxic, metal-eatinghydrogen sulphide (H2S) ever encountered.
In order to overcome the high pressures and H2S content,specific compressors had to be developed for Kashagan, Total, a member of the operating consortium, said on itswebsite.
Two of the compressors are known among the thousands ofworkers on Kashagan as "the widow maker" and "the rotatingbomb", which a consortium spokesman pointed out refer not tounsafe working conditions but to their complexity. (Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer; editing by Jane Baird)
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