Gaz-System on tasks for vessels laying Baltic Pipe

The Baltic Pipe gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea will be laid simultaneously by two or one of the three vessels involved in the operation, gas transmission operator Gaz-System informed PAP. It is already known what tasks will be assigned to individual vessels of the Saipem concern.

The gas pipeline between Denmark and Poland will be laid by a total of three vessels belonging to Saipem, i.e. the contractor for the section – Castorone, Castoro 6 and Castoro 10. One or two of them will work at any given time.

According to Gaz-System, Castoro 10 will lay the pipeline in the coastal area of Denmark. Castoro 6 will be responsible for the remaining larger sections in the Danish sea areas and in the sea areas in Poland. Castorone, on the other hand, will lay the pipeline in deeper waters, mainly Swedish, but in some places also in Polish and Danish waters. The laying of the offshore gas pipeline will start in the summer.

Gaz-System stressed that during the design phase of the pipeline, not only were most obstacles such as wrecks and boulders identified, but their presence was taken into account when determining the final route. Moreover, as emphasised by the operator, surveys of the cleanliness of the installation corridor bottom are carried out at each installation stage. Thanks to this it is possible to remove any objects found or – in the case of bigger obstacles – to correct the pipeline route.

Along the Baltic Pipe route there are several dozen crossings of various types with the existing offshore infrastructure such as power and telecommunications cables as well as gas pipelines. The crossing of this infrastructure must each time be regulated by appropriate agreements with its owners.

Baltic Pipe is a strategic project that will create a new route for natural gas supplies from Norway to the Danish and Polish markets and to end users in neighbouring countries. The pipeline will be able to transport 10 bcm of natural gas per year to Poland and 3 bcm from Poland to Denmark. The investors are the transmission operators Danish Energinet and Polish Gaz-System. It is to become operational on October 1, 2022.

Saipem is an Italian engineering company specialising in construction and services for the offshore sector. The €280m contract, signed in May 2020 by Gaz-System with Saipem Limited – Saipem’s UK company – covers the laying of around 275km of gas pipeline by vessels owned by the company.

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