Pieter Schelte Faces South Stream End

Allseas’ flagship vessel, the 382 metres long and 124 metres wide Pieter Schelte, might be looking for a new job following the latest South Stream developments.

Specifically, on April 29, South Stream Transport contracted the Allseas Group to lay the second line of the South Stream Offshore Pipeline.

Allseas was supposed to start laying 900km of the second line in the summer of 2015, using Pieter Schelte for the job.

However, during his latest visit to Turkey, President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, stated that they won’t pursue the South Stream pipeline project. This was also a foreplay for the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on constructing an offshore gas pipeline across the Black Sea towards Turkey, between Gazprom and Botas Petroleum Pipeline Corporation.

Following Putin’s statement that Russia will drop the South Stream project, Allseas commented:

“The loss of the South Stream line 2 contract is unfortunate and means that Allseas will now start searching for new work for that period.”

Meanwhile, Italian company Saipem, contracted to perform the offshore laying of the first line and construct the landfalls and shallow-water parts for all four pipelines, said that it has not received any formal notice of termination of the contract from the client, South Stream Transport BV, and therefore will continue with their operations. However, Saipem might be looking at the same outcome facing the Swiss-based Allseas Group.

Pieter Schelte Looses South Stream Contract

The world’s largest vessel left Korean shipyard Daewoo in Okpo on 17th November 2014, sailing towards the Port of Rotterdam for its final assembly in the Alexiahaven.

Subsea World News Staff