Cairns were commissioned by McDermott International and KCS to carry out a combined infrastructure planning and design and the environmental impact assessment for the development of off/onshore facilities to support major offshore oil and gas projects in the Kazakh Sector of the Caspian Sea. The studies examined offshore engineering options for the sea area, subsequently established as the giant Kashagan oil field. McDermott KCS included the entire length of the Caspian shore line from the RF border to that with Turkmenistan in their search for optimal locations for infrastructure development.

The proposed infrastructure development programme and ensuing masterplan served as the initiating agent for progressive physical and economic development.  It was claimed that this was one of the most comprehensive offshore field development studies undertaken anywhere at that date (1996). Its findings and proposals remain valid having predicted with great accuracy what is now actually happening in the development of Kashagan.