OMV Petrom hires Saipem to build Neptun Deep offshore infrastructure for €1.6bn

Romania’s largest energy company OMV Petrom announced that it awarded the €1.6bn contract for developing the Neptun Deep offshore natural gas project to the local subsidiary of Italian group Saipem. 

Neptun Deep is Romania's biggest Black Sea offshore natural gas project, and its first deepwater offshore project. Total investments are expected at €4bn. Once fully developed, Neptun Deep is projected to produce approximately 100bn cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas, establishing Romania as the leading gas producer in the European Union, according to OMV Petrom. 

The contract with Saipem includes management, engineering, procurement, fabrication, assembly, maritime transportation, installation, testing and commissioning services for the offshore project.

In addition, the contract includes the testing and commissioning of the gas metering station and the near shore and onshore sections of the gas production pipeline, which will be built by other contractors. 

The cost of the works will be equally split between OMV Petrom and Romgaz Black Sea Limited as partners in the Operating Agreement for the development of the Neptun Deep project.

At the same time, OMV Petrom announced that the National Agency for Mineral Resources has endorsed the Development Plan for the Domino and Pelican South natural gas commercial fields (Neptun Deep project). Consequently, the Neptun Deep project enters the development phase, which includes the execution of drilling activities and construction of the infrastructure necessary for the extraction of natural gas, with the first production estimated for 2027.

The infrastructure necessary for the development of the Domino and Pelican South includes 10 samples, six in deep water (about 1,000 meters) and 4 in shallow water (about 100 meters), three submarine production systems and an associated collector pipeline network, an offshore platform in the water area with a depth of 100 meters, the main gas pipeline to the shore (about 160km) and the Tuzla gas metering station.