The biggest new gas source for Romania is the Neptune Deep offshore project in the Black Sea. OMV Petrom and Romgaz expect the first gas volumes starting in 2027, as the main contract for infrastructure development have been signed this August. Italian Saipem will execute engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning services for the Neptune Deep project, and the first project construction activities at sea are expected to start by 2025.
Saipem describes the Neptune Deep as “a flagship project, not only for the country, but also for the company because it is located in the heart of Europe”. The task is quite complex, said Massimo Cristiani, Corporate Regional Manager, Head of Europe Region with Saipem, “because our scope of work is quite comprehensive consisting of all the pipelines of the project, and all the subsea part of the whole installation as well as the SWP platform itself”. Answering to a question during the panel about the management of the risk of the Project, Massimo Cristiani expressed full confidence that Saipem can approach a project of this complexity based on its proven solid expertise in offshore business. “The challenge of this task is perfectly consistent with our tradition and the project will be equipped with the best of our assets (vessels and own fabrication yards). Saipem has the quite unique possibility to work with its valuable engineering brains, but also with its own assets”. Saipem is present in more than 50 countries around the world and employs about 30,000 people of over 120 nationalities. The company has 8 fabrication yards and an offshore fleet of 38 construction vessels.
“The project is huge because at the peak these two gas fields – Pelican and Domino – will produce 8 billion cubic meter per year”, Cristiani said. Saipem team will cover Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation of the gas processing platform at around 100 meter water depth, two subsea developments (respectively at around 1,000 meter water depth in the Domino field and at around 100 meter water depth in the Pelican field), a 30” gas pipeline about 160 kilometers long, and associated fiber optic cable from the Shallow Water Platform (SWS) to the proximity of Romanian coast.
One of the critical points of the project is the fabrication of the gas processing platform. In order to reduce the risks, this will be done at Saipem’s yards in Italy and Indonesia. Also, all the offshore operations will be performed by the Saipem fleet. The technological tests and analyzes for the materials used in the project will be carried out in Romania, through the local entity of Saipem in Ploiești.
On the Offshore gas sector, Saipem has some projects in the portfolio in the North Sea, in Egypt, Qatar and China. A Saipem team already drilled in the Black Sea, where the passage of the Bosphorus Strait in particular presented considerable structural difficulties. “Scarabeo 9 is now one of the few rigs in the world that have entered the Black Sea, and it is probably one of the most flexible and capable units operating in the area”, writes the company website.
The Italian multinational oilfield services company has just recently secured a 4.1 billion dollars contract with ADNOC for developing the resources of the Hail and Ghasha natural gas fields, located offshore Abu Dhabi, UAE..