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Home Fossil Energy MMT, Reach Subsea win Nord Stream inspection work

MMT, Reach Subsea win Nord Stream inspection work

May 18, 2017

Sweden-based marine surveys specialist MMT has been awarded a three-year contract by Nord Stream AG for inspection of both lines of the Nord Stream Pipeline running through the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.

The company said on Wednesday that the external inspection of the pipeline would be executed by a joint venture between MMT Sweden and Reach Subsea.

The scope of work, involving approximately 150 days in 2017, includes visual and instrumental inspection of the pipelines with remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) over the entire length of the route. The trenched sections and cable crossings of the pipeline will also be inspected. According to MMT, the survey will mainly be conducted from the vessel Stril Explorer.

MMT said that the purpose of these surveys was to acquire data on the condition of both pipeline strings and associated installations. This information is used in the continued assessment of the pipelines’ integrity and will complement the data generated in earlier inspection campaigns.

Ola Oskarsson, MMT Sweden’s founder, said: “We are very proud to be chosen to conduct the important inspections of this great infrastructure project and bring our new technology to the Baltic Sea. In cooperation with our partner, Reach Subsea, we will support Nord Stream’s safe and environmentally sound energy transport to Europe.”

Reach Subsea’s founder and CEO, Jostein Alendal, added: “This three-year contract award is a result of the excellent operational performance in an offshore survey carried out in close cooperation with our partner MMT Sweden over the past years.”

Nord Stream’s natural gas pipelines has the capacity to transport 55 billion cubic metres (bcm) of Russian gas a year to the EU, for at least 50 years. Both lines run in parallel for 1,224 kilometres from Portovaya Bay, near Vyborg on the Russian Baltic Sea coast, to Lubmin, Germany. Construction of the first Nord Stream Pipeline started in April 2010, and both lines were completed and on-stream in October 2012.