Projects

Following an international tender process, Nord Stream 2 AG has awarded a contract for offshore pipelay of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline through the Baltic Sea to Allseas. The company will undertake offshore pipelay works for both lines in 2018 and 2019. Allseas will use the three pipelaying vessels Pioneering Spirit , Solitaire and Audacia .

Ireland's farmers and public representatives are meeting to determine if limited infrastructure funds will be spent on rural projects throughout the country or on one "standout" 172 km water pipeline costing an estimated €1.2 billion.

Energy Transfer Partners' proposed $4.2 billion, 1147 km Rover natural gas pipeline from Pennsylvania to Ontario, Canada has been approved by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission after a two year review.

Two Iranian workers died last week while trying to inspect the new Bazman - Zahedan gas pipeline in Sistan Baluchistan, Iran.

The incident occurred when workers were attempting to pig the new pipeline -- final tests before the pipeline goes into service. Fortunately for the other workers there was no gas in the pipeline during the time of the incident.

The US Army has given permission to carry the last section of the Dakota Access oil pipeline leading over one of their sites. End of January, President Trump revived the two controversial pipeline projects Keystone-XL and Dakota Access, which had been stopped by Trump’s predecessors, Obama.

In a long anticipated move to enhance the security of supply, reduce dependency on Russia and boost regional cooperation, Bulgaria and Serbia have signed an agreement to jointly build a 150 km gas pipeline between the two countries.

The so-called Interconnector Link is expected to be operational by the end of 2020.

Turkish Stream, moving in fits and starts since its inception several years ago, has been ratified by Russia's Lower House of Parliament, or State Duma, this past Friday.

The State Duma's action paves the way for Russian gas to be delivered to Turkey and ultimately to Western Europe.

Though President Trump signed an Executive Order this week to expedite the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline, James Boasberg, a Federal judge, has ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should begin with a full environmental study of the disputed crossing of the Missouri River in North Dakota.

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed a number of executive orders to advance approval of the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. His administration takes a swift step forward to finally enable the construction of these two pipelines, which both had been blocked by former president Barack Obama’s administration.

Uganda and Tanzania have selected Gulf Interstate Engineering, a Houston-based company, to design a 1,445 km crude oil pipeline from the heavy oil fields of western Uganda near Hoima to Tanzania's Indian Ocean seaport of Tanga, dubbed the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).

PTT, Thailand's largest energy company, has selected a Marubeni / Itochu joint venture to construct a 430 km natural gas pipeline in Thailand.

Chavalit Punthong, chief operation officer of Infrastructure and Sustainability Management Group, said the pipeline will stretch from Rayong to Nonthaburi, just north of the capital Bangkok.

The often delayed and much maligned Energy East Pipeline in Canada will be given new life by the appointment of three new members of the National Energy Board charged with making a determination whether the pipeline should go ahead.

The previous Energy East pipeline panel stepped down amidst questions about a potential conflict of interest last year.

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh's grand vision for Iran's petroleum future includes a $52 million, 154 km ethylene pipeline to be constructed in Tabriz in the northwestern corner of the country.

The petrochemical complex there has an annual production capacity of 370,000 tons, but the capacity is set to double upon the pipeline's completion by 2021.

Allseas Pioneering Spirit, the largest ship in the world, has been awarded a contract to build the 900 km Turkstream pipeline on the floor of the Black Sea. Pipe laying operations are to begin in the second half of 2017.

The construction of Nordstream II on the floor of the Baltic Sea is fast becoming a contentious issue in Sweden, with the central government seeing the pipeline as a threat to Sweden's security and the local government focusing on the economic benefits that would accrue the Municipality of Gotland.