Survey provider wanted for Netherlands-UK gas pipeline

Dutch gas infrastructure company Nederlandse Gasunie is calling interested parties to apply for a tender seeking survey services for the subsea gas pipeline between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Gasunie is looking for a company to carry out offshore acoustic survey services for the BBL (Balgzand Bacton Line) subsea pipeline in the Southern North Sea, between Balgzand in the Netherlands and Bacton in the UK.

Activities will be done along the approximately 230-kilometer long offshore pipeline, from landfall to a maximum depth of 50 meters.

The scope of services includes the acquisition of high-quality data to provide evidence of pipeline condition and identify any anomalies, with full detailed reporting to be provided.

The contract will be signed for a period of four years and has options to be extended two times per two years.

The deadline for submitting applications is 21 December at 11:00 a.m. local time. Gasunie plans to dispatch invitations for participating to selected candidates by 24 January 2022.

The BBL pipeline is operated by BBL Company, established in 2004 as a partnership between Gasunie BBL B.V., with a 60% stake, and Uniper Ruhrgas BBL B.V. and Fluxys BBL B.V., each holding a 20% stake, respectively subsidiaries of Gasunie, E.ON and Fluxys.

The 235-kilometer gas pipeline has an hourly capacity of 20,600,000 kWh/h in the forward flow between the Netherlands and the UK, and an hourly capacity of 7,000,000 kWh/h in the reverse flow, between the UK and the Netherlands.

Since its opening in December 2006, BBL only carried gas from the Netherlands to the UK. The project that allows physical gas flows from the UK to the Netherlands was completed on 18 July 2019.