They are extremely reliable and light surface floats, invented by Resinex for shallow waters and are known in jargon as coppella. They are rotationally moulded in polyethylene and have a double pipe passage. People in the trade consider them perfect for positioning the lines, using small special floats for particularly shallow water. This is particularly true for the Caspian Sea where Saipem (www.saipem.it) is working, on behalf of Agip KCO, in a mega-contract in one of the most important oil and gas fields in phase of development in the world, namely Kashagan.
Situated about 75 kilometres south-east of Atyrau, Kashagan was discovered in 2000 and its reserves, estimated at over 50 million barrels, is comparable to those of the huge Saudi Fields. In 2001 the ENI Group was nominated by the Kazakhstan government as sole operator in the new field.
Resinex delivered the floats to Fratelli Righini of Ravenna (www.righiniravenna.it) which had just completed the supply of an installation for the transport, positioning and fixing of an approximate 8 kilometre pipe line. This conduct will be done by Saipem in the North-East region of the Caspian Sea and will link the dry land to the field. The water, very shallow, complicates the operation even more and a result the Consortium had a commission innovative flat hulled vessels in order to reach the wells and to build special offshore islands.
