South Stream Transport BV CEO Oleg Aksyutin and Saipem Senior Vice President Stefano Bianchi have entered into contracts for constructing the first ofthe four offshore lines of the South Stream gas pipeline.
According to the contracts signed on 14 March in Amsterdam and worth around €2 billion, Saipem will generate the project documentation, build the first offshore line of the South Stream gas pipeline as well as erect process facilities inthe shore crossing areas as well asconstruct the landfalls, Gazprom said.
Pipes will bewelded together onboard aspecial pipe-laying vessel and then laid in a proper position onthe seabed at a depth of up to 2,200 metres. The South Stream gas pipeline will be laid by two pipe-laying vessels of Saipem: Castoro Sei, anS-lay vessel suitable for both shallow and deep waters and Saipem 7000, aJ-lay vessel that constructed theBlue Streamgas pipeline inthe Black Sea inthe early 2000s, Gazprom said.
For the shore crossings, four micro-tunnels will bebuilt onboth the Russian and the Bulgarian side. This technology will allow preserving the Russian and Bulgarian coastlines. Preparations for micro-tunneling operations will start inJune 2014.
Offshore construction will start in autumn 2014. The construction ofthe first offshore line will last until the third quarter of 2015. At the end ofthe same year the first line will becommissioned.
The offshore section ofthe South Stream gas pipeline will consist offour parallel lines, each longer than 930 kilometres, across the Black Sea from the Russian coast tothe Varna Port inBulgaria. Each line will bemade upofover 75,000 12-metre pipes.
South Stream Transport BV is responsible for constructing the offshore section ofthe South Stream gas pipeline. The company’s shareholding is split among Gazprom (50%), Italian ENI (20%), German Wintershall and French EDF (15% each). ENI-subsidiary Saipem is one ofthe world’s largest oil and gas industry contractors specialising in engineering and technical support of offshore energy projects.