SAIPEM AWARDED € 2 B

SAIPEM has been contracted by South Stream Transport B.V. for the construction of the first line of the South Stream Offshore Pipeline, from Russia to Bulgaria across the Black Sea, for a total value of approximately € 2 billion.

The South Stream Offshore Pipeline will consist of four parallel gas pipelines each 931 kilometres long and will be laid at depths of up to 2,200 meters.

Saipem will perform the installation design and will construct the entire first line plus the shallow water parts, the shore crossings, the landfall and the associated facilities for the four pipelines.

The pipeline construction will be carried out by Saipem 7000, the state of the art J-Lay vessel suitable for ultra-deep water that has already constructed the Blue Stream pipeline in the Black Sea, and Saipem's Castoro Sei, the S-lay vessel suitable for both shallow and deep waters which has already laid several trunklines, including the North Stream Pipeline.

Saipem 7000 offshore activities will commence at the end of 2014. In November 2014, the Castoro Sei vessel will move to Russian waters to start activities in the shallow water.

The construction of the first line will last until the third quarter of 2015 and the pipeline will be taken into operations by the end of that year.

South Stream Transport B.V. is an international joint venture between Gazprom (50%), Eni (20%), EDF (15%) and Wintershall (15%).