Saipem has been awarded an engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning (EPIC) contract by Petrobras for the development of the Lula NE - Cernambi gas export pipeline, in the Santos Basin Pre-Salt Region, approximately 270 km off the coast of the State of São Paulo, Brazil.

The development encompasses the engineering, procurement, fabrication, and installation of a 19 km, 18 inch diameter gas export pipeline and related subsea equipment, which will be laid in a maximum water depth of 2,200 m. The pipeline will connect the Cernambi field to a central manifold in the Lula field.

The majority of the offshore activities will be performed by the deepwater field development vessel Saipem FDS 2 during the second half of 2013.

Saipem said that this is the third export flow line from the new Pre-Salt floating production storage and offloading vessels – after Guara and Lula NE – and the third to be installed by the Saipem FDS 2.

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“The technology of the FDS 2 installation vessel, and specifically its powerful J-lay capacity, is ideally suited to the installation of the ultra-deep water pipelines and flowlines of the Pre-Salt fields in Brazil,” said Saipem.

This is the first project for which Saipem plans to use the new base in Guarujá for pipe logistics and storage.

Separately, in Venezuela, Saipem has signed a transportation and installation contract with PDVSA Petroleo SA for the Dragon – CIGMA Gas Export Pipeline which is part of the Delta Caribe Oriental Project.

The contract comprises the transportation and installation of a 110 km, 36 inch diameter gas export pipeline, which will connect the Dragon Gas Platform, located about 50 km offshore northeast of the Venezuelan coast, to the CIGMA Complex close to Guiria and in the Gulf of Paria, in the State of Sucre.

Offshore activities will be mainly carried out by the Castoro 7 pipelay vessel and are currently scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2013.