OREANDA-NEWS. Today in Amsterdam South Stream Transport signed a contract with Swiss Allseas Group to lay the second string of the South Stream offshore gas pipeline in deep waters and a contract with Saipem for providing complementary services for the construction.

Pursuant to the contract, Allseas is to lay almost 900 kilometers of pipes on the seabed. The Swiss company will engage the new vessel Pieter Schelte equipped with six welding and coating facilities for this task.

As part of laying the second string, Saipem will provide the following services: engineering, managing pipe storage terminals and connecting the offshore pipeline to the landfall sections using the above-water tie-ins.

Allseas will start laying the second string in summer 2015, while Saipem will be laying the first one. The second string will be commissioned by the end of 2016.

Background

South Stream is Gazprom's global infrastructure project aimed at constructing a gas pipeline with a capacity of 63 billion cubic meters across the Black Sea to Southern and Central Europe for the purpose of diversifying the natural gas export routes and eliminating transit risks. The first gas will be supplied via South Stream in late 2015. The gas pipeline will reach its full capacity in 2018.
The offshore section of the South Stream gas pipeline will consist of four parallel lines, each longer than 930 kilometers, across the Black Sea from the Russian coast to the Varna Port in Bulgaria. Each line will be made up of over 75 thousand 12-meter pipes.
South Stream Transport B.V. is responsible for constructing the offshore section of the South Stream gas pipeline. The company's shareholding is split among Gazprom (50 per cent), Italian Eni (20 per cent), German Wintershall and French EDF (15 per cent each).
In January and March 2014 South Stream Transport signed contracts and placed orders with Russian, German and Japanese pipe plants for the supply of more than 150 thousand 12-meter pipes with a diameter of 813 millimeters (32 inches) for the first and second strings of gas pipeline's offshore section.
In March 2014 Italian Saipem was awarded a contract for laying the first string and developing landfall and shallow water sections for all four strings of the gas pipeline.
Allseas Group S.A. is a global leader in laying offshore pipelines and building underwater structures. The company is engaged in comprehensive projects implementation, including designing, supplies of materials and machinery, construction and start-up operations.
Saipem S.p.A. is a subsidiary of Italian oil and gas concern Eni and one of the world's largest oil and gas industry contractors having large fleet for conducting marine operations and laying offshore gas pipelines with various diameters at a range of depths.