A ceremony of naming a submersible drilling rig — «Caspian Explorer» — took place in a Kuryk settlement (Mangistau Oblast) on June 14, 2012.
A submersible drilling rig (hereinafter — SDR) has been built within an agreement on principles of cooperation between National Company KazMunaiGaz JSC (hereinafter — NK KMG) and a Corean Consortium of a Caspian Petroleum Project (hereinafter — Corean Consortium) on prospective offshore site Zhambyl, located in Kazakhstani Sector of the Caspian Sea, providing for commitment of a Corean Party to build an offshore drilling rig for exploration drilling.
According to the commitment Corean Consortium was independently mobilizing a drilling rig, which included construction, transportation and assembling. This is the first offshore drilling rig built in Kazakhstan. Manufacturing faciltities of Yersai Caspian Contractors — a Kazakhstani company — were used for this construction. The drilling rig is intended for drilling in shallow waters (2.5–5.5 meters) with maximum drilling depth of 6000 meters.
According to the terms of the agreement on principles of cooperation Teniz Burgylau LLP — 100% subsidiary company of National Company KazMunaiGaz JSC has become an Operator of Offshore Drillling Rig on the grounds of Trust Agreement.
Teniz Burgylau LLP was founded by an order of Samruk Holding JSC dtd January 29, 2008.
The main focus of activities of Teniz Burgylau LLP is drilling of exploratoion, appraisal and production wells in the Caspain Sea.
The company implements a second type of activities «Operating of a drilling rig on Zhambyl porject in accordance with an Agreement on mobilization and operation of the rig between NK KMG, KC KAZAKH B.V. and KC KAZAKH PANAMA S.A.» signed on August 25, 2011.
Consortium of Corean Companies consists of KNOC (Corean State National Oil and Gas Corporation) - 35% share in a Consortium. The remaining part is distributed among large private corporations of South Corea, such as SK Corporation(25%) and LG International Corp. (20%). Samsung Corp. and Daesung Industrial Co. Ltd. own the other 10 percent.
National Company KazMunaiGas JSC is a Kazakh national operator for exploration, production,processing and transportation of hydrocarbones. 100 percent of shares of NK KazMunaiGas JSC are owned by the National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna JSC.