Siemens to supply control tools and electrical systems for South Stream’s offshore section
South Stream Transport and Siemens entered into a contract to supply electrical systems and Control & Instrumentation for the offshore section of the South Stream gas pipeline, Gazprom says in its press release. The document stipulates that Siemens will supply telecommunication equipment and automatic process control systems for the Russian and Bulgarian landfalls along with the equipment for the Central and Backup Control Rooms of South Stream Transport.
South Stream's offshore section will consist of four parallel lines running across the Black Sea. Each line exceeding 930 kilometers will carry up to 40 million cubic meters of gas daily. All gas flows will be monitored around the clock from the Central Control Room of South Stream Transport.
In March 2014 South Stream Transport entered into a contract for constructing the first offshore line of the South Stream gas pipeline. Contracts for the supply of about 150 thousand pipes for the first two lines of South Stream's offshore section were also signed. South Stream's offshore section will be laid starting from fall 2014. The first offshore line will be completed by the third quarter of 2015 and commissioned at the end of the same year.
South Stream Transport international joint venture is responsible for designing, constructing and operating the offshore section of the South Stream gas pipeline. The company's shareholding is split among Gazprom (50 per cent), Eni (20 per cent), Wintershall and EDF (15 per cent each).
South Stream is Gazprom's global infrastructure project aimed at constructing a gas pipeline with a capacity of 63 billion cubic meters across the Black Sea to Southern and Central Europe for the purpose of diversifying the natural gas export routes and eliminating transit risks. At present, South Stream is under construction in Russia, Bulgaria and Serbia. The first gas will be supplied via South Stream in late 2015. The gas pipeline will reach its full capacity in 2018.
Siemens is a major manufacturer of electronics and electric tools within such sectors as information technologies and communication, automation and control systems, power industry, transport and healthcare.