Italian contractor Saipem has scooped two new contracts for offshore activities in Côte d’Ivoire and Italy worth a combined $910 million.
The first contract, awarded by Eni Côte d’Ivoire and its partner Petroci, is a subsea umbilicals, risers, and flowlines contract for the development of the Baleine Phase 2 project, located offshore Côte d’Ivoire in about 1200 m of water.
The work scope encompasses the engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) of approximately 20 km of rigid lines, 10 km of flexible risers and jumpers and 15 km of umbilicals connected to a dedicated floating unit. Saipem will conduct the installation work in 2024.
The contract expands the contractor’s role in the Baleine field development. Saipem deployed the Saipem 10000 and Saipem 12000 drillships for Phase 1, followed up by the execution of two contracts for Phase 1 in fast-track mode.
Eni started production from the field in August, less than 2 years after the September 2021 discovery. The operator estimated 2.5 billion bbl of oil and 3.3 Tcf of associated gas in place.
For the initial phase, production takes place through the Baleine FPSO, a refurbished and upgraded unit capable of handling up to 15,000 BOPD and around 25 MMscf/D of associated gas. The start of Phase 2 is expected by the end of 2024 and will increase field production to 50,000 BOPD and approximately 70 MMScf/D of natural gas. The third development phase aims to increase field production up to 150,000 BOPD and 200 MMscf/D of gas.
The second contract has been awarded to Saipem, through a temporary association of companies with Rosetti Marino and Micoperi, by Snam Rete Gas for the construction of the facilities for the new floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) to be located in the Adriatic Sea offshore Ravenna, Italy.
The Ravenna project comprises the EPCI of a new offshore facility, linked to the existing one, for the docking and mooring of the FSRU, to be connected to shore via a 26-in. offshore pipeline 8.5 km in length, plus a 2.6-km onshore pipeline and a parallel fiber-optic cable. The shore crossing will utilize a micro-tunneling system to minimize environmental impacts. Offshore operations will be executed by Saipem’s pipelay barge Castoro 10.
The new FSRU will increase Italy’s LNG import capacity and is one of the three LNG import terminal projects currently in development as the country pivots from Russian gas.
