Gazprom and GSP sign $269 mln contractUpdated: 07-12-2009 | International

Grup Servicii Petroliere (GSP), a Romanian company performing offshore drilling, controlled by businessman Gabriel Comanescu, signed a $269 million (€179 mln) contract with the Russian Gazprom giant, stating that the former will build a gas pipeline under the Black Sea that will also serve the Russian town of Sochi, which will host the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

"This is the only contract that Grup Servicii Petroliere has signed with a Russian oil company so far. However, it is not the first that Upetrom, a group that includes GSP, signs with companies on the Russian market. We participated in an international tender, together with large players in Italy and the United Arab Emirates, which we won, and the contract was signed on 19 November," Radu Petrescu, the group's Communication Manager told Business Standard yesterday. According to the official, the Russian market is the third-largest partner for Upetrom 1 Mai Ploiesti, onshore drilling rig producer, member of the Upetrom group.

Petrescu indicated that Upetrom 1 Mai Ploiesti exports nearly 80 percent of its production, and Russian companies are among the top three export destinations, but Gazprom has not previously been a client. The $269 million contract stipulates the construction of a 150 km pipeline, under the Black Sea, part of the Olympia project, that includes connecting the Dzhubga-Lazarevskoe-Sochi pipeline to the Russian-Turkey active intercontinental gas pipeline, in the city of Gorski, in the region of Tuapse.

"The contract was signed between GSP and Stroygazmontazh, general contractor of the Olympia project, whose beneficiary is Gazprom. The objective is to provide natural gas for the Krasnodar territory and the Black Sea coast area, namely Sochi and Tuapse," said the press release by the Romanian company. Petrescu said that GSP entered the offshore construction sector last year. "The Gazprom contract is the third we have won since this division was launched. We have another $100 mln contract, with Turkey's national TPAO company to build a fixed platform in the Black Sea, and a $50 mln contract for a submarine pipeline, won in Bulgaria," said Petrescu.

standard.money.ro