Saipem, an Italian offshore contractor, has won the rights to an engineering, procurement, construction and installation contract in the Zohr gas field in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Egypt. The contract is worth 1.6 billion euros (US$1.77 billion) and work on the project in question should begin this month.
That work will include installing a 26-inch gas export trunkline along with 14- and 18-inch service trunklines. The contact also calls for the deepwater field development of six wells and installing an umbilical system. Work will begin this month and is expected to be finished by 2017.
To meet the tight schedule, Saipem will use a fleet of vessels in its offshore operations that will include a number of specialized vessels. Among them will be a submersible pipelayer.
Saipem CEO, Stefano Cao, stated: "We are very pleased to have been selected for the important objective of delivering first gas from Zohr before the end of 2017. We will mobilize a fleet of vessels with last-generation capabilities, and leverage on our proven expertise and consolidated presence in the area, in order to ensure our clients achieve their targets."
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Saipem was awarded the contract by Petrobel. Petrobel, which will oversee the development of the Zohr, is a joint venture between Eni and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation. Petrobel is working on behalf of PetroShorouk, which is itself a joint venture between the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company and Eni.
Eni has already completed the first production test in the area and estimates that the test well's capacity is approximately 250 million cu ft a day. The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company has launched a tender to hire a third floating storage and regasification unit that could increase that country's Egypt's liquefied natural gas imports from 1.1 billion cu ft per day, currently, to about 1.9 billion cu ft.
By Lincoln Brown for Oilprice.com
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