Saipem Lands Offshore Pipe Contract

Italian engineering firm Saipem has won a €280 ($343)mn contract to transport and install a natural gas pipeline between Denmark and Poland in the Baltic Sea for Polish transmission system operator Gaz-System, it said May 4. The work is to start immediately.

The 900-km Baltic Pipe is due to start pumping up to 10bn m³/yr of gas from Norwegian gas fields to Poland via Denmark starting in October 2022, with Europipe contracted to supply the tubes.

The contract involves laying some 275 km of concrete-coated pipeline between Denmark and Poland in a water depth between 4 and 57 metres to be carried out by Saipem S-lay vessels. Moreover, the contract includes microtunneling and civil works activities in Denmark and Poland, extensive rockdumping as well as pre and post-lay trenching and backfilling activities. Works under the contract will commence immediately.

Saipem Offshore COO Francesco Racheli said the contract, which "came at a critical moment for the energy industry worldwide, will help ensure the continuity of European gas supply and reinforces Saipem’s presence in a such a highly strategic area. We look forward at swiftly and successfully delivering this important project.” 

Baltic Pipe is co-financed by the European Union to create a new inter-European gas corridor that will supply gas directly from Norway to the markets in Poland, Denmark and neighbouring countries.