Technip Wins ENI Libya Contract

French contractor Technip said May 31 it has been awarded a major natural gas field development contract offshore Libya by Italy’s Eni.  

The major subsea contract, which Technip indicated was worth between €500mn and €1bn, is to develop the Bahr Essalam, Phase II development in the central Mediterranean Sea.

This natural gas field development, operated by Mellitah Oil & Gas, a consortium of Eni and Libya’s National Oil Corporation, will be tied back to the Sabratha platform, about 110km off the Libyan coast in a water depth of some 190 meters.

Technip perform the overall design, detailed engineering and deliver the project management, as well as procurement, installation, tie-ins, pre-commissioning and commissioning. This will be associated with the provision of a gas gathering system, including production pipelines, and also include modifications to the Sabratha platform's topsides. All offshore mobilisations will be undertaken from Malta.

Offshore installation is scheduled for 2H 2017 through to 2H 2018.  

Technip and US contractor FMC announced their intention to merge on May 19 (Photo credit: both companies)

Thierry Pilenko, Chairman and CEO, said: “We very much look forward to working with Mellitah to safely and successfully deliver this large project, by leveraging our strong know-how and experience in high-quality product manufacturing and subsea installation.”

Eni’s March 18 strategy presentation said start-up of ‘Bahr Essalam phase 2’ would occur in 2018.  Bahr Essalam [South] was discovered in March 2015, said CEO Claudio Descalzi at the event in London, adding “at the moment we consider it’s safer to work offshore than onshore” in Libya.

Mark Smedley