Saipem Scores Additional Zohr Work

Italian services company Saipem said it has secured more than $1.2 billion worth of additional work for the “supergiant” Zohr field development project, offshore Egypt in the Mediterranean Sea.

Saipem announced on Thursday it won an offshore contract addendum with Petrobel, a 50-50 joint venture between EGPC (Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation) and IEOC (an Eni subsidiary in Egypt) and is in charge of the development of Zohr on behalf of PetroShorouk, a joint venture between EGAS (Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company) and IEOC, Rosneft, BP and Mubadala Petroleum.

The current addendum to the work for the Ramp Up to Plateau phase includes the installation of a second 30-inch diameter gas export pipeline, infield clad lines, umbilicals and electrical/fiber optic cable, as well as engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) work for the field development in deepwater (up to 1,700 meters) of 10 wells.

The work is scheduled to commence in January 2019, in direct continuity with the Optimized Ramp Up phase which has been completed in a 17-month project execution period from its contract award, Saipem said.

In this new phase of works, Saipem said it plans to deploy a range of specialized vessels including the Castorone, the latest generation of ultra-deepwater pipelayer; the FDS, a subsea field development ship; the Heavy Lift Vessel S7000; the DP3 subsea construction vessel Normand Maximus; the subsea construction vessel Saipem 3000; the pipelay vessel Castoro Sei and the multipurpose Normand Cutter and Far Samson vessels.

Stefano Cao, Saipem CEO, said, “This further award of works on the Zohr development represents a new recognition of our proven capacity to embrace our client’s objectives at the early stages of cooperation and bring them to a conclusion. The innovative assets and technologies already used in the previous phases, and the ability to build solid local partnerships, will also ensure the success of this latest phase”.