Shawcor to resume Black Sea pipeline work

Shawcor’s Canusa-CPS division has received notification from Saipem that its suspension of the work on South Stream pipeline project has been lifted and its contract is to be resumed.

Canusa-CPS had been awarded a contract from Saipem SpA to provide field joint coating services for Line 1 of the South Stream Offshore Pipeline, which was supposed to carry gas from Russia to EU.

However, in December 2014, ShawCor Ltd. announced the suspension of the majority of the work on its South Stream Pipeline contracts, after Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, said the pipeline construction would be suspended due to the opposition from the EU. Putin then said the pipeline would be diverted to Turkey, through a pipeline called Turkish Stream.

According to Shawcor’s statement issued yesterday, Saipem has asked that Canusa-CPS resumes its part of the contract immediately.

To remind, Saipem last week said that Gazprom-controlled South Stream Transport company had lifted suspension of activities in the Black Sea, under the South Stream pipe laying contract Saipem had before the suspension of the project.

In its press release issued Friday, May 8, Saipem said that the Gazprom-controlled company South Stream Transport BV was lifting the suspension of work under the contracts, and that Saipem “should commence works on the offshore pipeline in the Black Sea.”

Neither Shawcor, nor Saipem explicitly said it in their respective statements, but this probably means that the companies will now be working on the Turkish Stream pipeline, rather than South Stream.

Offshore Energy Today Staff

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