Russian oil company Lukoil has started transporting jackets meant for the ice-resistant platform for the second stage of development of the Filanovsky field, in the Caspian Sea.

Lukoil said on Friday that jackets were being transported from the port of Astrakhan to the Filanovsky field. The platform will be used for drilling and well ops within the second stage of field development.

According to Lukoil, jackets for the platform were fabricated at the Galaktika shipyard in Astrakhan. Every jacket is sized 28.3?23.7?19 meters and weights over 2,500 tons. The topside of the platform is currently being fabricated in the Astrakhan region.

Accommodation platform topside, for the second stage of field development, is also currently being built at shipyards in Astrakhan while jackets for this platform were transported and installed in the Caspian Sea in early July.

The Filanovsky field is, according to Lukoil, the largest discovery in Russia in the past 25 years. It is located in the northern part of the Caspian Sea, 220 km away from Astrakhan.

Water depth in the field area ranges from 7 to 11 meters. Production volume at the plateau will be 6 million tons per annum, and production launch is scheduled for September 2016.

Lukoil recently put into service three ice-class vessels in support of its Caspian Sea oil and gas activities. The vessels Bumi Uray, Bumi Pokachi and Bumi Naryan-Mar, delivered by Bumi Armada, are being used at the Vladimir Filanovsky field.