GDANSK/WARSAW, May 4 (Reuters) – Polish gas grid operator Gaz-System said on Monday it signed a 280 million euro ($306 million) contract with Italian oil services group Saipem to build a section of the Baltic Pipe between Denmark and Poland.
Warsaw views the planned link as a way to diversify its gas supply, most of which is imported from Russia under a long-term contract with Gazprom that expires in 2022.
The contract, signed with Saipem’s British subsidiary, includes the construction of a concrete-coated pipeline between Denmark and Poland, microtunneling and civil works, which Saipem said in a statement would commence immediately.
Italian offshore services provider Saipem has won a 280 million euro contract for the transportation and installation of the Baltic Pipe Project’s pipelines.
The Baltic Pipe Project is a strategic infrastructure project developed by a joint venture between Poland’s GAZ-SYSTEM S.A. and Denmark’s Energinet.dk and 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 neighboring countries.
Saipem has been awarded a contract by GAZ-SYSTEM S.A. for the transportation and installation of a natural gas pipeline between Denmark and Poland in the Baltic Sea.
The contract comprises the construction of approximately 275 km x 36” concrete-coated pipeline between Denmark and Poland in a water depth between 4 and 57m to be carried out by Saipem S-lay vessels.
The contract also includes micro tunneling and civil works activities in Denmark and Poland, extensive rock dumping as well as pre and post-lay trenching and backfilling activities. Works under the contract will begin immediately, Saipem said Monday.
Francesco Racheli, COO E&C Offshore Division, commented: “This new contract, assigned thanks to our solid track record in pipeline installation projects and arriving 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”.
The capacity of the 1.6 billion euro Baltic Pipe, which is expected to connect Poland with Norwegian gas fields via the Baltic Sea and Denmark in October 2022, will be 10 billion cubic metres (bcm) a year.
“We have already contracted all major contractors and suppliers necessary to start the construction of the gas pipeline connecting the coasts of Denmark and Poland,” the head of Gaz-System Tomasz Stepien, said in a separate statement. ($1 = 0.9139 euros) (Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko and Anna Rzhevkina; Editing by Alexander Smith)