Saipem closed its 2025 order book in December with a windfall of contracts for new engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) work in the Black Sea and the Persian Gulf, including a $425 million award to connect TPAO’s two largest deepwater gas fields—Sakarya and the newly discovered Göktepe.
The TPAO award sweetens the $1.5 billion EPCI contract it signed with Saipem in September 2025 for Phase 3 of the Sakarya development by adding to the project three additional pipelines covering 153 km, plus associated subsea structures at a water depth of 2200 m.
Announced in May 2025 by Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan, the Göktepe-3 discovery gave a 10% boost to Turkey’s gas reserve estimates, raising them to 785 billion m3 from 710 billion m3, and reinforcing Ankara’s ambition of becoming a regional gas export hub.
More Business in the Persian Gulf
In December, Saipem also said it received two contract release purchase orders (CRPO) under its existing long-term agreement with Saudi Aramco covering EPCI work on the following two projects:
- 34 km of pipelines (20-in. and 30-in. diameter) and related topside work at the Berri and Abu Safah oil fields in the Persian Gulf
- Subsea interventions at the Marjan oil field, also in the Persian Gulf, with 300 m of onshore pipeline and associated tie-ins
Saipem said it plans to use construction vessels already in the region, with fabrication to take place at Saipem’s Saudi fabrication yard, Saipem Taqa Al-Rushaid Fabricators, in Dammam.
QatarEnergy LNG also tapped Saipem, in partnership with Offshore Oil Engineering Co. Ltd. (COOEC), for the offshore COMP5 package under the North Field Production Sustainability (NFPS) Offshore Compression Complexes project.
Saipem’s share of the $4 billion, 5-year deal is $3.1 billion for EPCI of two compression complexes (compression platform, living quarters, flare platform, and related infrastructure), according to a Saipem news release.
The NFPS project aims to raise production at North Field, the world’s largest nonassociated natural gas field, located off Qatar’s northeastern coast.
Saipem’s De He construction vessel is set to install the packages in 2029 and 2030. The Italian engineering and construction giant said it is currently executing earlier EPCI awards for the COMP2 and COMP3 packages, which were announced in October 2022 and September 2024, respectively.
Laying Pipe in Turkish Waters
In Turkey, Saipem’s Castorone pipelay vessel is set to conduct the campaign at Sakarya and Göktepe in the second half of 2027, while overall Phase‑3 development, which began in 2025, will run through 2028. First gas is anticipated by 2030.
Phase 3 envisions a new dedicated floating production unit (FPU), fed by 27 wells in the Sakarya and Amasra fields and connected by a new trunkline to an onshore facility on the Turkish Black Sea coast at Filyos, according to Saipem.
Included in the scope of Saipem’s 3-year contract are eight rigid flowlines and a 24-in. gas export pipeline approximately 183 km long, connecting the offshore field at a maximum depth of 2200 m to Filyos.
Saipem has completed Phase 1 of the Sakarya field development project, which was awarded in 2021, and is finalizing work on Phase 2, which was awarded in 2023 and aims to double Sakarya’s daily output of 9.5 million m3 by drilling 30 additional wells and deploying the first of two FPU units.
TPAO expects to install the first FPU in the second half of 2026, with a second FPU unit to follow in 2028, according to Turkey’s Daily Sabah news agency.