Issue #118, 31 October 2003
DEME links Europe with North African gas fields
The DEME group in Belgium has provided DNO with more details about pair of landfalls it is working on in Sicily and Libya, a project that will see a new gas pipeline linking North Africa and Europe.
The work is being executed by Sidra, the Italian subsidiary of DEME, and Tideway, the specialized DEME subsidiary that services the oil and gas industry worldwide.
The assignment is part of the West Libya Gas Project, which includes the construction of a gas treatment plant at Mellitah and laying of a 520km underwater pipeline from Mellitah in Libya to Gela in Sicily.
On the Libyan side of the Mediterranean, Sidra and Tideway are dredging a 1.9km long trench in which three pipelines will come ashore.
Two incoming pipelines of 36in and 10in will transport dehydrated gas and stabilised condensate to the Mellitah gas treatment plant, from the Bahr Essalam offshore field, a field formerly known as NC 41 that is located at 110km north of Tripoli.
The third pipeline in the
Mellitah landfall is part of the outgoing 32in trunk line of the Libya Gas Transmission System (LGTS), a 520km underwater pipeline connecting Mellitah in Libya to Gela in Sicily. This trunkline will be laid in depths up to 1.114m.
The twin offshore pipeline from the Bahr Essalam gas field to the Mellitah plant is being executed by Saipem on behalf of AgipGas BV, a joint venture between Agip North Africa and Libya's state-owned National Oil Company (NOC). The client for the trunk line LGTS to Sicily is the Green Stream BV consortium, another joint venture between Agip and NOC. DEME has assigned the execution of the work to its Italian subsidiary Società Italiana Dragaggi (Sidra) and Tideway. Both companies are subcontractors to Saipem, which assigned the Castoro Sei for the pipe laying in August this summer.
Sidra/Tideway started work on the Mellitah landfall in August 2003. A cutter suction dredger will cut through the hard rock material. Two rock causeways will be constructed for crossing thecoastline. Besides the trench dredging, Sidra/Tideway are also responsible for rock dumping in the trench, and for foundation works and anchoring the winches that will pull the pipelines ashore in October.
In the second half of July, Sidra and Tideway completed the 700m long landfall at Gela, Sicily, using a small trailing suction hopper dredger.
Dredging News Online
