Saipem Cleared for Black Sea Pipeline Work

Saipem is to resume its pipeline construction operations in the Black Sea after receiving a go-ahead notice from South Stream Transport B.V.

The notification comes just a few day after Gazprom, now a 100% owner of South Stream Transport, announced further development on Turkish Stream project, setting its launch date for December next year.

The Italian contractor informed on Friday that South Stream Transport is lifting the suspension of work under the contracts, and that Saipem should commence works on the offshore pipeline in the Black Sea.

Saipem was the main contractor at South Stream and had two deals worth 2.4 billion euros. The Milan-based company was contracted to perform the offshore laying of the first line and construct the landfalls and shallow-water parts for all four pipelines, as well as complementary works on line 2. However, in December last year, Russia scrapped the project and the country’s president Putin proposed a new subsea pipeline route to Turkey.

Short after that announcement, Eni-controlled Saipem received a “Notification of suspension of Marine Spread activities”, which put a stop on all the Saipem vessels involved in the pipe laying activities and also lead to Saipem’s difference in revenue outlook of about 1 billion euros, during the company’s first quarter 2015 presentation.

According the formerly international joint venture South Stream Transport, the South Stream Pipeline through the Black Sea originates in Anapa on the Russian Black Sea Coast and was planned to land on the Bulgarian coastline, near Varna, Bulgaria. The approximate length of the planned subsea pipeline is 931 km and at full capacity the four pipeline strings would deliver 63 bcm of natural gas annually.

The recently announced, Turkish Stream gas pipeline, is also planned with an annual capacity of 63 billion cubic meters of gas to be supplied from Russia to Turkey under the Black Sea. The 1,100 kilometer gas pipeline will convey a total of 47 billion cubic meters of gas to the Turkish-Greek border, as Gazprom informs.

Saipem , who was according to reports in lead to secure Turkish Stream job, did not disclose any additional information.

Subsea World News Staff; Image: South Stream Transport B.V.