Saipem, the Italian LNG and energy subsea projects developer, has been awarded two contracts worth $850 million, one to open up a Turkish natural gas field in the Black Sea and a second to decommission energy activities in the UK North Sea.
The Milan-based company said it was awarded two new offshore contracts, one for an Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) project in the Black Sea and one for decommissioning energy infrastructure in the North Sea northeast of Aberdeen.
The first contract has been assigned by Turkish Petroleum for the second phase of the Sakarya front-end engineering and EPCI project and entails a 16-inch pipeline of 175km (109 miles) in length and at 2,200-metres of water depths in Turkish Black Sea waters.
The Sakarya gas field is Turkey’s largest ever natural gas discovery and has been estimated to hold between 400 billion cubic metres and 530 Bcm of natural gas in assorted wells.
LNG demand
The gas from Sakarya will help offset some of Turkey’s increasing volumes of LNG imports, especially US cargoes.
The government has moved quickly to get Black Sea pipeline natural gas flowing into the national grid with sustained plateau production starting in 2027 or 2028.
Turkey expects to cover up to a quarter of its gas consumption from the discovery by 2027.
The offshore Black Sea operations for the Sakarya gas field second phase are scheduled to begin in the summer of 2024 and will be conducted by Saipem’s flagship vessel “Castorone”.
Saipem recently completed with success the first phase of the Sakarya Gas Field Development project.
The other contract awarded to Saipem has been assigned by EnQuest Heather Limited for the decommissioning of the existing Thistle A Platform, located in the UK sector of the North Sea, around 510km northeast of Aberdeen in a water depths of 162 metres.
Disposals
Saipem’s activities entail the engineering, preparation, removal and disposal of the jacket and topsides, with possible extension to further subsea facilities.
The work will be led by the “Saipem 7000”, one of the largest semi-submersible heavy lifting vessels in the world.
“These important awards demonstrate Saipem's excellent competitive positioning in the Offshore Engineering & Construction market, a sector that is experiencing a full expansion momentum of which Saipem is ready to seize the opportunities,” said Fabrizio Botta, Saipem Chief Commercial Officer.
