Keppel Verolme was awarded the maintenance work on the vessel by Saipem and will overhaul four thrusters, install new stinger handling support rails and repair and modify the onboard gantry cranes and fendering system of Castoro Sei. The pipelay vessel will also undergo an extensive hull blasting and painting programme.
The work on the Castoro Sei is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2010. Upon completion the vessel will be deployed for the Nord Stream project, a gas pipeline linking Russia and the European Union via the Baltic Sea.
The Castoro Sei was designed and constructed by Saipem in the 1970s. At the time the Castoro Sei successfully laid pipes in depths up to 610 m – the deepest subsea installation at the time – when constructing the offshore section of the Trans-Mediterranean Pipeline, running from Algeria to Italy, via Sicily.