JV of Boskalis and Van Oord awarded Nord Stream 2 rock placement LoI

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) has been awarded a LoI (Letter of Intent) in joint venture with Van Oord for rock placement services for the Nord Stream 2  project. The award was made by the project developer Nord Stream 2 AG and is a part of the construction of the planned twin 1,200 kilometer gas pipelines running through the Baltic Sea, connecting Russia to Europe. The contract value is approximately EUR 250 million, with a 50% share for Boskalis. Contract details are expected to be finalized in the next few weeks, Boskalis and Van Oord said in their press releases.

Rock needs to be installed at specific locations along the pipeline route to level the seabed and to protect the pipelines. The contract scope includes the sourcing of rock from quarries in the Baltic region. The project will be executed in a 50/50 partnership and multiple specialized fallpipe vessels will be deployed in the period 2018-2019.

In the period 2010-2012 Boskalis was also contracted for the rock placement scope for the first Nord Stream project and also constructed the landfall in Germany.

Boskalis' strategy is aimed at benefitting from key macro-economic factors which drive worldwide demand in our markets: expansion of the global economy, increase in energy consumption, global population growth and the challenges that go hand in hand with climate change. This development emphasizes the need for infrastructure to accommodate the continued demand for natural gas.

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. is a leading global services provider operating in the dredging, maritime infrastructure and maritime services sectors in the maritime, coastal and delta regions. The services include the construction and maintenance of ports and waterways, land reclamation, coastal defense and riverbank protection. Boskalis offers a wide variety of marine services and contracting for the oil and gas sector and offshore wind industry as well as salvage solutions (SMIT Salvage). Furthermore, Boskalis has a number of strategic partnerships in harbour towage and terminal services (KOTUG SMIT Towage, Keppel Smit Towage, Saam Smit Towage and Smit Lamnalco). With a versatile fleet of 1,000 units Boskalis operates in around 75 countries across six continents. Boskalis has over 8,200 employees, excluding its share in partnerships.