Italy’s Saipem wins $1 billion gas service contract in Libyan off-shore

MILAN (Reuters) – Italian energy services group Saipem on Wednesday said it had won a new contract in Libya worth around $1 billion for the development of the Bouri Gas Utilisation Project (BGUP).

The contract was awarded by Mellitah Oil & Gas B.V. Libyan Branch, a consortium of the National Oil Corporation of Libya and Eni’s Eni North Africa.

Italian energy major Eni, which owns a 31% stake in Saipem, jointly controls both Saipem and Mellitah Oil & Gas B.V.. Saipem said in a statement the deal counted as a “related party transaction” based on Italian market regulation but was “completed in market-equivalent or standard terms”.

Saipem will revamp the platforms and facilities of the undersea Bouri gas field, engineering, constructing, installing and commissioning an approximately 5,000-ton gas recovery module, and also laying 28 kilometres of pipelines connecting platforms.

(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)