Saipem has completed installation of the production platform for the OMV Petrom-operated Neptun Deep Gas Development project in the Romanian sector of the Black Sea.

Neptun Deep is estimated to contain about 100 Bcm of recoverable natural gas, making it one of the largest natural gas developments in the EU and a cornerstone of Romania's efforts to expand domestic gas production.

The work scope for the contract, awarded in 2023, comprised:

• Engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of the platform;
• Subsea construction for the Domino and Pelican South gas fields, in 1,000 m and 125 m water depth respectively; and
• Laying of a 160-km, 30-inch offshore gas pipeline and a fiber-optic cable between the platform and the Romanian shore landfall.

For the pipelay, Saipem’s Castorone vessel managed the deepwater section and Castoro 10 handled the nearshore program.

The Saipem 7000 crane vessel first installed the 135-m-high, 7,500-mt+ jacket, one of the largest structures built to date at Saipem Offshore Construction’s yard in Arbatax, Sardinia. 

Following transportation to the Black Sea, the jacket was lifted, upended, positioned and secured to the seafloor with eight steel piles, each more than 2 m in diameter.

The crane vessel then installed the 9,000-mt topside, also one of the largest modules ever fabricated at Saipem’s Karimun yard in Indonesia.

Once in operation, the fully automated and remotely controlled platform will send the fields’ processed gas through the 160-km pipeline to the coast.

OMV Petrom reported July 20 that six of the 10 development wells have now been drilled and completed. The company aims to start production next year.

The next priorities, OMV Petrom continued, would be connecting all the system components: drilling of the remaining production wells; installing and integrating the subsea infrastructure; connecting offshore facilities to the transport pipeline; and testing activities.