Saipem has been awarded new E&C Offshore contracts worth in excess of $1 billion in China and Brazil.

The offshore activities for both the contracts will be performed mainly by the newly-built and highly-specialized Saipem FDS 2 vessel, in different periods between 2012 and 2013.

In China, Husky Oil China Ltd awarded Saipem the contract for the Liwan 3-1 Field – Deepwater EPCI. The scope of work includes the engineering, procurement, construction and installation of two 22 inch diameter 79-kilometres-long pipelines, umbilicals, along with the transport and installation of a subsea production system linking the wellheads to a processing platform.

The Liwan 3-1 gas field, is located in the Block 29/26 in the South China Sea in 1500 metres water depth and approximately 300 kilometres south of Hong Kong. It represents the first offshore field developed in deep water in the South China Sea.

In Brazil, the Brazilian oil company Petrobras has awarded Saipem an EPIC contract for the Guara & Lula-Northeast gas export pipelines, in the Santos Basin, approximately 260 kilometres off the coasts of the Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo States, in water depths of between 2,100 and 2,200 metres.

The contract encompasses the transportation, installation and pre-commissioning of two export sealines, as well as the engineering, procurement and construction of related subsea equipment: the first line, 18 inch in diameter and 54-kilometres-long, will connect the Guara FPSO vessel (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) to a subsea gathering manifold in the Lula field; the second line, 18 inch in diameter and 22-kilometres-long, will connect the Lula-Northeast FPSO to the same manifold in the Lula field.