Corinth Pipeworks, as a subcontractor of Sumitomo Corporation Europe, has won a contract to manufacture and supply approximately 160km of longitudinally submerged arc-welded steel pipes (LSAW) for the development of an offshore natural gas pipeline for OMV Petrom’s Neptun Deep project in the Black Sea.
According to Corinth Pipeworks, the contract is valued between EUR 100 and 150 million.
The Neptun Deep Block in the Black Sea has an area of 7,500 square km and is located about 160 km from the shore of Romania, in water depths up to 1,000 meters.
Neptun Deep is the largest natural gas project in the Romanian Black Sea and the first deepwater offshore project in Romania.
The 30-inch pipeline will be manufactured at Corinth Pipeworks’ facilities and will include external anticorrosion coating and internal flow efficiency lining, applied at the same location as pipe manufacturing at Thisvi, Greece.
Ilias Bekiros, General Manager of Corinth Pipeworks said: "We are particularly delighted to be awarded this major project by Sumitomo Corporation Europe Limited, a trusted partner of OMV Petrom, the largest integrated energy company in Southern and Eastern Europe."
OMV Petrom and Romgaz in June approved the development plan for the Domino and Pelican South commercial natural gas fields in the Neptun Deep block.
First gas is estimated for 2027, and, according to the companies leading the project, Romania will then become the largest gas producer in the EU. Production at the plateau will be approximately 8 bcm annually (~140,000 boe/d), for almost 10 years.
OMV Petrom is the operator, with each company having a 50% interest in the project. They will invest up to EUR 4 billion for the development phase of the project.