Saipem wins US$1Bn in offshore contracts

The Milan, Italy-headquartered group has won a contract in Saudi Arabia to provide engineering, procurement, construction and installation work on a giant offshore oil and gas field.

Saipem will construct and install five platforms and associated subsea pipelines, flowlines and cables over the Marjan field in the Middle East Gulf. This is part of a major redevelopment and production expansion project on Marjan, which is one of the largest offshore oil fields in the world which has been producing hydrocarbons for decades.

The fabrication work will be undertaken in Saudi Arabia under an existing long-term agreement with Saudi Aramco.

“With this important award, we further strengthen our long-standing relationship with Saudi Aramco and strategic positioning in the Middle East,” Saipem said.

In Brazil, Saipem was awarded a contract by state energy group Petrobras to develop and test an autonomous subsea inspection robotic solution.

This will be based on Saipem’s fleet of underwater drones, starting from the Flatfish AUV. Saipem will also qualify related autonomous drone-based services to enable future inspection contract options offshore Brazil and is “a fundamental milestone for Saipem’s innovative underwater robotics programme.”

Saipem said this Petrobras contract will be important for the global use of subsea drones in offshore projects.

“The potential of these subsea technologies within the offshore domain is vast, both for oil and gas developments and for the renewables market segment,” said Saipem.