Royal Boskalis Westminster has acquired three oil- and gas-related contracts for projects in the Middle East and Europe. The total contract value amounts to approximately US$130.5 million.
The regional deal focuses on an offshore infrastructure contract for Saudi Aramco. Dredging work for an oil pipeline shore approach from the Safaniyah offshore field to the mainland of Saudi Arabia will be executed this year. Boskalis will dredge a seven kilometre trench and backfill the trench with sand after completing a pipe-pull.
The two further oil and gas related projects which coincided with the news of the Aramco deal are linked to the “Nord Stream” project. This project encompasses the construction of two 1220-kilometre gas pipelines from Russia to Northern Germany through the Baltic Sea. Boskalis will prepare the seabed for the laying of the pipelines over the full distance of the Nord Stream pipelines, and also execute the shore approach of the pipelines in Germany.
The contract for the seabed preparation for the 1220 kilometre double pipeline requires the complete construction of
rock beds and berms and will employ approximately 320 000 tonnes of rock to level and stabilize the seabed. The project will be executed in a 50/50 partnership with Tideway and be realised in 2010.
The contract for the shore approach for the double pipeline in Germany requires the dredging of a 23-kilometre trench for the pipes, a pipe-pull over a distance of approximately 800 metres and the backfilling of the dredged trench. A 650-metre cofferdam will be constructed on the waterline to protect the pipeline. The project will be executed in a 50/50 partnership with Rohde Nielsen A/S and will also be realized in 2010.
Boskalis has increasingly stamped its presence on the MENA oil and gas sector, after winning the $78 million contract from energy company Brass LNG Limited, a joint venture between NNPC, ENI, ConocoPhillips and Total, for the development of the “Brass LNG” gas project in Nigeria in 2007.
