Works on Medgaz platform resume after 20-day halt

The Italian SaipemSpa Company, in charge of the construction of the gas pipeline between Spain and Algeria, resumed its building works Sunday after a 20-day halt resulting from an accident on the undersea platform during which 4 workers were killed and 3 injured.

•  All but one of the workers affected were employed by the Italian oil services group Saipem.
• The accident occurred in international waters after a crane on the “Saipem 7000” platform suffered a mechanical failure, according to the Medgaz consortium.
• The repair works have been carried through by a specialized team.
• 450 workers from some 20 different nationalities currently work on the rig.

• The Medgaz project is a 210km-long deepwater gas pipeline running from Beni Saf, on the Algerian western coast, to southern Spain, and is scheduled to be completed by 2009.
• Medgaz is a consortium of Algeria’s hydrocarbons Company Sonatrach, Spanish groups Ceps, Iberdrola and Endesa and France’s GDF Suez.
• Sonatrach holds a 36% stake in this mega project worth 900 million Euros