South Stream News

The pipe-laying vessel  Pioneering Spirit pipelaying vessel completed the construction of the offshore section of the TurkStream gas pipeline in the Black Sea. The TurkStream pipeline will carry Russian gas across the Black Sea to Turkey.The command to weld the final joint of the gas pipeline’s second string was given by Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of the Republic of Turkey.“Construction of TurkStream – a new gas pipeline connecting Russia and Turkey via the Black Sea – is entering its final stage. The work is well ahead of schedule: the offshore section of the gas pipeline was completed as early as today instead of in December as planned earlier…

Growing global energy demand and requirements for additional pipeline capacity are driving the pipeline segment. However, pipeline related innovation is prioritized by only 4% of senior oil & gas professionals, according to research by DNV GL, the technical advisor to the oil & gas industry. Further, the research shows that nearly one in five oil & gas companies (18%) do not have a strategy in place to maintain innovation. Six in ten (61%) respondents agree that operators will increasingly push to standardize their delivery globally, up from 55% in 2015 and 52% in 2014. The most common strategy for maintaining innovation with lower budgets is to increase collaboration with other industry players (45%).

Croatia's power utility HEP and gas transmission system operator Plinacro on Tuesday invited investors to express interest in building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the northern Adriatic, part of the country's drive for energy independence. The terminal on the island of Krk is also part of Europe's wider efforts to reduce its reliance on Russian energy supplies and has gained new importance following the cancellation of the South Stream project. It is aimed at receiving, storing and re-gasifying LNG, with a nominal capacity of 6 billion cubic metres. HEP and Plinacro, in a joint venture named LNG Croatia, said potential investors should submit their letters of interest for joining the project as soon as possible.

Stefano Cao has been brought back by Eni to turn around the oil service subsidiary Saipem that he spent nearly 25 years working for and prepare it for a sale, according to people familiar with the plan. Italian state-controlled oil major Eni has been mulling for years the idea of cutting its 43 percent stake in Saipem to somewhere below 30 percent, mainly to get 4.4 billion euros ($4.7 billion) of debt off its balance sheet that has been a brake on its own growth. But falling oil prices and setbacks that culminated last year in Saipem losing the lucrative South Stream gas pipeline project forced Eni to put the plan on hold. Saipem shares have fallen more than 60 percent in the past two years…

Ankara hosted today a working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Taner Yildiz, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. The parties discussed the main issues of constructing a new gas pipeline across the Black Sea towards Turkey. The meeting considered the preliminary feasibility study on the new gas pipeline and approved its new route. The four strings will have an aggregate capacity of 63 billion cubic meters a year. 660 kilometers of the pipeline’s route will be laid within the old corridor of South Stream and 250 kilometers – within a new corridor towards the European part of Turkey. Already on January 28 Gazprom will submit a notice requesting a conduct of FEED operations for the new Turkish offshore section.

In a word, Pieter Schelte is BIG. Founded in 1985, Swiss-based Allseas Group S.A. is specialized in offshore pipeline installation and subsea construction. The company employs more than 2,500 people worldwide and operates a fleet of specialized, in-house designed and developed pipelay and support vessels. The company is known for its daring and imagination in ship design and technological innovation. The newest Allseas vessel, Pieter Schelte, is a huge ship, composed of two super-tanker hulls connected by a wide central work platform or slot, much like a catamaran.

Pieter Schelte Heerema, one of the largest ships in the world with a length of more than three football fields, arrives at the port of Rotterdam for the last works before it is operational. Pieter Schelte Heerema, one of the largest ships in the world, which is capable of lifting oil platforms weighing almost five times the weight of the Eiffel Tower, arrived Thursday in Rotterdam for the last work before it goes into service. The nearly 400-metre (440-yard) long crane ship arrived in Europe's largest port from South Korea where it was built at DSME’s Okpo shipyard, ahead of starting work lifting rigs and laying pipelines this summer. The vessel is 124m (407ft) wide and 382m (1,253ft) long – as long as the Empire State Building is high.

Drilling for oil and gas at an exploration block off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast will be delayed by at least six months until early 2016 following the fall in global oil prices, French oil firm Total said. Total, operator of the offshore 1-21 Han Asparuh block, has cancelled tenders for drilling services in a decision agreed with its partners in the block, Austria's OMV and Spain's Repsol. "Due to the significant and incessant decline in the prices of oil globally in the past months ... the companies unanimously decided to change the budget and the working schedule for 2015 and postpone the start of the drilling programme for 2016," the Bulgarian division of Total said in a note to the Bulgarian public procurement agency.

The United States is willing to help Hungary and other European countries build energy infrastructure to reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas, U.S. Chargé d'Affaires in Budapest André Goodfriend has told Nepszava newspaper. "Relying on Russian sources threatens energy independence," Goodfriend told Nepszava in an interview published on Saturday. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has drawn criticism from Western governments for trying to secure supplies of energy and trade for Hungary by doing deals with Moscow. Critics say he should not be cosying up to Russia when it has sent troops into Ukraine. On Friday, Orban accused the European Union of sabotaging the Russian-backed South Stream gas pipeline project…

Italian oil services group Saipem said on Thursday it had been notified of the suspension of "Marine Spread Activities" as part of the South Stream project. Russia on Monday scrapped the pipeline project to supply gas to southern Europe without crossing Ukraine, but so far Saipem had repeatedly said it had not yet received formal notice of the termination of any South Stream contracts. The suspension note covers all vessels currently engaged in activities related to pipe laying, the company added. "At present it is not possible to determine the economic impact of the suspension on Saipem's business, as both the duration of the suspension and the client's ultimate decision on the project are unknown," said the company in a statement.

Sochi hosted today a working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Claudio Descalzi, Chief Operating Officer of Eni. The parties addressed the main areas of and prospects for enhancing the bilateral cooperation in the energy sector, in particular, the partnership within the South Stream project. It was pointed out that new supply routes would provide European consumers with the required gas volumes over the long run. The meeting participants also discussed the issues of Russian natural gas supply to Italy.

The Gazprom Management Committee addressed the progress with the South Stream It was stressed that South Stream gas pipeline project was ready for constructing. This includes the most complicated part of the project – the first and the second strings of the offshore gas pipeline. FEED activities are completed for the offshore section. At present, the project contractor Saipem is engaged in detailed engineering of the submerged trunkline. Almost 300 thousand tons of pipes have been supplied for the first offshore string. Pipeline sections for the deep-water part are currently being welded in the port of Burgas.

The Russia-led South Stream undersea gas pipeline is still going ahead, Energy Minister Alexander Novak was quoted as saying on Saturday, following concerns the European Union might be losing enthusiasm for the project. The natural gas pipeline, which will cost an estimated $40 billion, is designed to carry Russian gas to the centre of Europe on a route that bypasses crisis-hit Ukraine. The project has yet to be approved by the EU, which is trying to become less dependent on Russian gas. Supplies from Russia currently account for about a third of EU gas imports. "The South Stream project has not been stopped," Novak was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. "The agreements which were signed remain in force.

Oil logistics specialist Buckeye Partners LP will pay $860 million for control of Trafigura's prized oil facilities in the Texas shale hub amid expectations Washington will relax its crude oil export ban. U.S. firm Buckeye will buy 80 percent of the global commodities trader's South Stream assets which include a deep-water tanker loading terminal in Corpus Christi, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage and a small refining unit known as a condensate splitter. Trafigura will hold on to the remaining 20 percent in the Corpus Christi facility, described in Trafigura's 2013 annual report as "one of the company's most important strategic assets ... at the center of the action in the world's largest, most dynamic, energy market". The deal comes at a time of increased pressure on the U.S.

Led by Alexander Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee the Company's delegation paid a working visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina today. As part of the visit, meetings were held with the Government officials, namely Bakir Izetbegovic, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zeljko Komsic, Member of the Presidency, Vjekoslav Bevanda, Chairman of the Council of Ministers, and Zlatko Lagumdzija, Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers – Minister of Foreign Affairs. Alexander Medvedev also held talks with Boris Tucic, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina – Co-President of the Russian-Bosnian Committee on Trade and Economic Cooperation.

The Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning of Turkey approved the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report and issued a positive opinion of the EIA results for South Stream's offshore section in Turkey. The Report contains the assessment of potential environmental impacts caused by the gas pipeline construction, including the impact on the seabed geology, water quality and marine ecology. The document concludes that the project will have no considerable effect on the Black Sea environment or the regional fishing industry. In addition, the Report proposes a number of measures aimed at eliminating or mitigating any environmental impacts of the project. For example, the gas pipeline bypasses certain locations of shipwrecks.

The new Allseas vessel, 'Pieter Schelte', is able to replace the previous slower method of removing topsides piece by piece with one lift, meaning a decommissioning job could be done in a fraction of the time, say analysts Douglas-Westwood in their latest 'DW Monday' report. With Pieter Schelte, the figures alone are impressive. 382m long, 124m wide and with a slot width of 59m it can remove topsides up to 48,000 tonnes in a single lift, potentially revolutionizing large decommissioning projects. Outside of the Gulf of Mexico (where NTL2010-G05 makes it mandatory) and some other shallow-water areas, decommissioning has been infrequent, with the busy North Sea seeing few decommissioning jobs despite a number of platforms being well beyond their design life.

Today in Belgrad (Serbia) South Stream d.o.o. entered into a contract with Centrgaz, which won the bidding for the South Stream gas pipeline construction in the Republic of Serbia. Centrgaz, part of Gazprom Group, will focus on design, procurement, construction and installation activities, personnel training and commissioning of South Stream in Serbia. The contract stipulates involving Serbian subcontractors in carrying out certain operations. Taking part in the bidding procedure which started in March 2014 were four bidders, comprised of Russian and Serbian companies. South Stream is Gazprom's global infrastructure project aimed at…

Alexey Miller, Chairman of Gazprom's Management Committee and Gerhard Roiss, Chief Executive Officer of OMV inked a Shareholders Agreement for the South Stream Austria joint project company. The document was signed in Vienna today during a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Republic of Austria. The Agreement envisages the parties' cooperation while constructing the Austrian section of the South Stream gas pipeline with the annual capacity of 30 to 32 billion cubic meters running from the Hungarian border to the end point in Baumgarten. The signed Agreement includes the final investment decision based on approved criteria for the pipeline construction in Austria, as well as Action Plan over 2014 to 2016.

Bulgaria will not resume work on the Russian-led South Stream gas pipeline project until it receives the all clear from the European Commission, Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski said on Sunday. In a move that could inflame tensions between Russia and the European Union, the 28-nation bloc's executive arm last week asked the Balkan country to suspend work on Gazprom's South Stream project pending a decision on whether it complies with EU law. The pipeline is being built to transport 63 billion cubic metres of gas per year under the Black Sea through Bulgaria to central and southern Europe, bypassing Ukraine, as Russia seeks to cement its position as Europe's dominant gas supplier.

Gazprom has abandoned plans to build a section of its disputed South Stream gas pipeline to Italy, two sources close to the company said on Wednesday, a day after Gazprom announced a deal with OMV to build a branch to Austria. The memorandum of understanding with the Austrian oil and gas company foresees building a section of the giant pipeline from Hungary to OMV's Central European Gas Hub near Vienna. "The additional Italian spur option was effectively ditched. Gas will now be delivered to the Austrian hub, from where it could go to many destinations in Europe along the existing pipelines," one of the sources said. Gazprom is pushing ahead with South Stream…

The chief executives of Gazprom and OMV held talks on Tuesday about supplying Russian gas to Europe using routes that bypass Ukraine, they said in a statement. Gazprom's Alexei Miller and OMV's Gerhard Roiss said they had discussed "optional alternative supply routes" including the Nord Stream and Opal pipelines. Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine - an important transit country for Russian gas - has resulted in European Union and U.S. sanctions, sparking fears of supply cuts that could affect several European countries. Earlier on Tuesday Gazprom said that Russian gas exports to Europe throughUkraine, through which almost half of Russia's Europe-bound gas passes, remained stable despite the standoff between Moscow and Kiev.

Royal Dutch Shell is committed to expansion in Russia, Chief Executive Ben van Beurden told Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting on Friday amid sanctions imposed on the country after its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region. Shell plans to expand Russia's only liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant with Russian partner Gazprom, he said at a meeting at Putin's residence. "We, of course, will pledge all the necessary administrative guidance and support," Putin said in response in a meeting that was later broadcast on national television.