Page 11 - MEOG Week 28 2022

MEOG TENDERS MEOG

Bidding process begins for EastMed gas line

EAST MED A tender was launched last week covering said this is likely to include Italy’s Saipem, Bon-
onshore facilities under the long-awaited atti and Renco, German firm Max Streicher and
EastMed gas pipeline, which will connect gas Greece-based Terna.
resources in Cyprus, Egypt and Israel to south- The developer is seen making a decision soon
ern Europe. on the front-end engineering and design (FEED)
The $6.1bn pipeline project, which appeared bidding contest, with Saipem and Swiss-based
to have fallen out of favour in recent years as gov- Allseas understood to be in the running for the
ernments push for a transition away from fos- $2.7bn contract.
sil fuels, is clearly benefitting from EU and US Commenting on the news, Welligence
efforts to find alternatives to Russian gas. Energy Analytics said: “Europe’s stance on cli-
Developer IGI Poseidon – a 50:50 joint ven- mate change, along with uncertainties on the
ture (JV) between Greece’s Public Gas Corp. volume of prospective and contingent resources
(DEPA) and Italy’s Edison – has issued a tender in the East Mediterranean, has cast doubts on
covering $1.3bn worth of engineering, procure- the project. However, the Ukraine crisis, along
ment, construction, installation (EPCI) and with an influx of oil majors (bp, Eni, Chevron,
pre-commissioning of EastMed’s onshore pipe- Shell, ExxonMobil), NOCs/government entities
line in Greece and above-ground facilities in (QatarEnergy, Mubadala Petroleum) and inde-
Cyprus, Crete and on the Greek mainland. Bids pendents (Energean) into the region over the last
are to be submitted by July 29. decade, has realigned priorities and reignited
The larger of the two contracts covers 555 interest.”
km of 48-inch (1,219-mm) pipelines in the Meanwhile, in June, DNV confirmed the
South Peloponnese, Achaia and Thesprotia feasibility of the 2,000-km pipeline, 1,600 km of
areas, including a 10-km spur that will connect which will be located offshore, with a 10-km sec-
EastMed to the Greek grid. This is valued at just tion running at a depth of 3,000 metres.
over $1bn. Upstream quoted sources as saying DNV said it had “re-issued the feasibility
this week that this larger contract is likely to statement following the assessment of the FEED
attract bids from Bonatti and Sicim of Italy and documentation provided by IGI Poseidon SA up
France’s Spiecapag. to date”.
The $250mn above-ground facilities con- It added: “This independent appraisal con-
tract covers compressor, metering and pressure firmed the technical maturity of the project
reduction stations and an operations, mainte- and the benefits of the early involvement in the
nance and dispatching (OMD) centre. design activities of the offshore construction
IGI Poseidon said it envisages five firms com- companies, thanks to competitive dialogue
peting for the AG contract. Upstream’s sources established under the ongoing tender process.”™

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