South Stream Transport B.V., Amsterdam/Netherlands and EUROPIPE GmbH, Mülheim an der Ruhr/Germany, today signed a contract for the supply of steel pipes for the construction of the South Stream Offshore Pipeline. EUROPIPE will produce over 600 kilometers for the first string of in total 931 kilometers. The route of the 32 inch (813 mm O. D.) offshore gas pipeline runs through the Black Sea in depths of up to 2,200 meters from Anapa in Russia to Varna in Bulgaria.

EUROPIPE’s order includes 450,000 tonnes of pipe in accordance to DNV Offhore Standard DNV-OS-F101, Submarine Pipeline Systems 2010. The challenge is the extremely high requirement concerning geometry (roundness). A good collaps resistance is indispensable for the security of the pipeline and the environment at external pressure of >200 bar in 2,200 m pipe laying depth. Almost all of the pipes will get an internal lining with epoxy and an outside coating with polypropylene.

Important major contract for EUROPIPE

EUROPIPE wins this contract against international competition due to its competence in technology, capacity, subcontracting and logistic. The order includes pipe manufacturing, pipe coating, procurement of pipe bends, buckle arrestors and the concrete weight coating of a part of the pipes as well as the transport to Bulgaria.
EUROPIPE will produce all 450,000 tonnes at its Mülheim/Ruhr large-diameter pipe mill. The steel plates needed for the pipe production will be supplied by EUROPIPE’s shareholders, AG der Dillinger Hüttenwerke and Salzgitter Mannesmann GmbH.

Under consideration of a tight delivery schedule the 2-shift production takes a good share
of EUROPIPE‘s capacity for a period of more than 12 months beginning April 2014. EUROPIPE’s subsidiary MÜLHEIM PIPECOATINGS GmbH (MPC) coated the pipes inside and outside. Also at MPC the 2-shift production takes a good share of its capacity. The order will mean work for about 700 employees in Mülheim/Ruhr at EUROPIPE and MPC.

The contract includes in addition 135 pipe bends which EUROPIPE will order from Salzgitter’s subsidiary Salzgitter Mannesmann Grobblech GmbH. Orders for the supply of concrete weight coating of 148 kilometers pipe and in total 429 so called buckle arrestors will be awarded to subcontractors. Buckle Arrestors are pipes which prevent a possible buckling of the pipeline during pipe laying.

Logistical challenge

EUROPIPE takes this job to a challenge. It will be responsible for transporting the pipes on time from Mülheim to Bremen and for onward shipping by sea to the stocking places at Burgas and Varna at the Bulgarian coast within the agreed tight delivery schedule.

About Europipe

EUROPIPE's expertise in large-diameter pipe manufacturing is in the production of welded steel pipes for extreme applications. These pipes withstand the extreme heat of the desert, the lowest temperatures in arctic environments or the extreme pressure of the deep sea.

EUROPIPE GmbH is based in Germany in Mülheim an der Ruhr. We have a global presence for our customers, with manufacturing plants in Germany, France and USA (Berg Steel Pipe Corp. and Berg Spiral Pipe Corp.).

About South Sream

The South Stream gas pipeline is Gazprom's global infrastructure project aimed at constructing a gas pipeline with a capacity of 63 billion cubic meters to Southern and Central Europe for the purpose of diversifying the natural gas export routes and eliminating transit risks.
A 2,400-kilometer gas pipeline will run under the Black Sea from the Russian coast to Bulgaria and will cross Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia to end up in Italy. Gas branches from the main pipeline route will be built to Croatia and to Republika Srpska (the state formation within Bosnia and Herzegovina).
The South Stream construction in Hungary is executed on the basis of the Intergovernmental Agreement between Russia and Hungary. South Stream was granted the status of a national significance project in Hungary.
In January 2010 the South Stream Hungary Zrt joint project company (JPC) was set up to build the Hungarian section of South Stream. The JPC shareholdings are split on a parity basis between Gazprom and MVM Zrt (Hungarian Power Companies).
The final investment decision to construct a 229-kilometer section of South Stream and one compressor station in Hungary was taken in October 2012.
In March 2013 Gazprom and MVM Zrt approved the Action Plan regarding the implementation of the South Stream project in Hungary until 2017.
In 2012 Hungary was supplied with 5.3 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas.