The Greenstream Project The Gas Export Facilities From Libya To Italy

The aim of this paper is to make an outline of the GreenStream offshore pipeline project: it is part of the Western Libya Gas Project (WLGP) and includes a Gas Compression Station at Mellitah (MGCS), inside the WLGP Gas Treatment Plant, that will compress the Gas to be exported to Italy, a 516 km long offshore pipeline (OPL) crossing the Sicily Channel and passing west of Malta Island conveying the gas from Libya to Italy, and a Receiving Terminal in Sicily (SRT), Gela, receiving the export Gas to let it into the Italian Gas Transport Network. GreenStream BV, a Company jointly incorporated by Medoil (NOC affiliate) and Agip North Africa BV, has been entrusted for the development and the operation of the transportation system, whose main technical features worthy of mention are the large nominal sizing of the pipeline (32" x 30.2 mm thk) in combination with the installation in very deep waters, up to 1127 m, the uneven and strongly irregular seabed profile along the offshore routing and the capability of the compression station, designed to convey up to 11 GSCM of natural gas yearly, over 200 bar inlet pressure. Other challenges of this project are the contractual strategy implemented for the supply, construction and installation of the offshore pipeline, split in several contracts with the goal to carefully control the quality and the cost convenience in each supply step, and the contractual strategy implemented for the compression station which besides an EPC contract, covering Engineering, Procurement and Construction, includes the provision of the maintenance and assistance to the operations for the first years of activity. Other aspects are finally discussed such as the authorisation process with Libyan, Italian and Maltese Authorities and the work program strictly interfacing with the schedule of the WLGP.