South Stream Transport, a joint venture of Gazprom (50%), Eni (20%), Wintershall and EDF (15% each), has signed two agreements for the construction of the first two lines of the offshore section of the South Stream gas pipeline. The offshore section will consist of four parallel lines, each longer than 930 km, across the Black Sea from the Russian coast to the Varna Port in Bulgaria. Each line will be made up of over 75,000 12-meter pipes. Saipem will be in charge of the project documentation and of the construction of the first offshore line and of process facilities; the contract is estimated at about €2bn. Marubeni-Itochu and Sumitomo consortium, United Metallurgical Company and Severstal will supply pipes for second line of South Stream’s offshore section; the contract is about €800m.
In December 2012 the South Stream gas pipeline construction started near Anapa in the Krasnodar Territory (Russia). In October 2013 the first joint was welded at South Stream's Bulgarian section and the construction of the gas pipe started in Serbia in November 2013. Offshore construction will start in autumn 2014. The construction of the first offshore line will last until the third quarter of 2015. At the end of the same year the first line will be commissioned. The gas pipeline will reach its full capacity of 63 bcm/year in 2018.
Source: South Stream