The floating rig is used for offshore oil and gas exploration.
While visiting Astra, President Putin sounded seriously concerned about the environmental safety of drilling on the Caspian shelf. He was told in response that Astra was the only rig that operated on the Caspian without discharging any pollutants. The rock refuse is collected and reloaded to a different vessel.
Mr Putin suggested that LUKoil management should put forth an initiative setting high environmental standards for drilling in all of the Caspian littoral states.