Saipem’s 26-year-old drillship on completion ops at Eni’s gas well offshore Sicily

August 17, 2026, by Melisa Cavcic

Italy’s engineering, drilling, and construction services company Saipem is carrying out completion work with its 2000-built drillship for compatriot energy giant Eni on a gas well off the coast of Sicily, with the campaign scheduled to run through to late September 2026, according to an Italian Coast Guard order.

The Saipem 10000 drillship has begun completion operations on Eni’s Gemini-1 gas well offshore Sicily, marking the next stage in the development of the discovery as a potential producing well. Based on an official order issued by the Porto Empedocle Coast Guard on August 5, 2026, completion activities at Gemini-1 are scheduled to take place between August 10 and September 29, 2026.

The operation involves the Saipem 10000 drillship and has prompted a temporary exclusion zone around the well location to accommodate the offshore work. The 2000-built fifth-generation ultra-deepwater drillship was designed by Samsung. Gemini-1 lies in approximately 705 meters of water in the Strait of Sicily.

The well was originally drilled by the same rig in 2024 as part of exploration activity associated with Eni’s offshore gas portfolio. The current campaign is intended to complete the well for production, moving from the exploration phase toward development.

Gemini, which is understood to form part of the wider Argo-Cassiopea development area, is planned to be connected as a subsea tie-back to the existing infrastructure. If the work proceeds as planned, this well will represent another source of gas that can be brought into production using the infrastructure already established for the Argo-Cassiopea project.

View on Offshore-energy.

While the Coast Guard documentation confirms the completion campaign and its scheduled operating period, reports have surfaced that the drillship arrived at the Gemini-1 location on August 15. Offshore-Energy.biz has not independently verified these reports.

Saipem recently won multiple new deals, including an offshore drilling contract with Eni for its Santorini drillship off the coast of Côte d’Ivoire.