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The MEDGAZ project, a new submarine pipeline between Algeria and Spain is going to secure additional supplies of natural gas to Europe.
RAMBØLL will design the onshore facilities and system design parameters for the 200 km offshore pipeline to be installed at a depth of 2160 metres.
The MEDGAZ project is classified by the European Commission under the Quick Start programme to improve trans-border energy networks and secure additional energy supply routes. Hence the planning by seven international energy companies for a pipeline transporting natural gas from Algeria through the Mediterranean to Spain from where it will be distributed to the rest of Europe. RAMBØLL has just won a contract for the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) of the compressor station in Algeria and the offshore pipeline receiving terminal in Spain, advanced flow analyses of the entire network, environmental impact assessments of the terminals, as well as to provide the technical basis for tendering of both terminals. The work is scheduled to last approximately 6 months and is estimated to a total of 20,000 man-hours. RAMBØLL is collaborating with the Spanish engineering consultant INITEC. The MEDGAZ transportation system is being designed to transport a total volume of 16 billion cubic meters per year of gas through ultimately two submarine pipelines, with an estimated start-up rate of 7 billion cubic meters per year targeted for third quarter 2006. The system will reach full capacity in year 2020.
'The assignment is a large feather in RAMBØLL's cap. We are going to have to apply years of experience with marine pipelines and process plants from the North Sea and transfer it to the Mediterranean Sea project. It is a challenging assignment won in competition with global players. This once more confirms, that we have the expert know-how within the oil and gas discipline, which we can sell to large companies abroad. The assignment fits in very well with our strategy of becoming an international engineering consultant. Seen from both a strategic and a business point of view, the assignment is extremely important as it opens the door to the seven international energy companies behind the pipeline project', says Per Jørgensen, Head of Department from the Energy & Oil/Gas division.
The partners in the MEDGAZ consortium comprise seven international energy companies: CEPSA (Spain), Sonatrach (Algeria), BP (UK), Total (France), Gaz de France (France), Endesa (Spain) and Iberdrola (Spain).
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