Insituform Technologies, Inc. announced that its subsidiary, CRTS, Inc., has been awarded a $48.4 million contract from Snamprogetti Saudi Arabia Ltd., a subsidiary of Eni S.p.A., to provide robotic coating of internal field joints for Saudi Aramco offshore pipelines that will transport natural gas from new offshore wells in the Hasbah and Arabiyah gas fields. In 2010, CRTS completed a similar, $12.0 million project three months ahead of schedule for Saudi Aramco’s subsea pipelines at the Karan gas field located off the coast of Saudi Arabia.

CRTS and its local partner, Diversified Lines for Petroleum Services, will provide robotic internal field joint coating for pipelines ranging in diameter from 10 inches to 36 inches. Mobilization and preparatory work for the project is expected to begin in July 2011. Preparations will include equipment construction, materials and weld quality control testing and shipment of materials to the job site. Internal field joint coating activities are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2012 and take approximately 12 months to complete.

The two offshore fields northeast of Dhahran will add a combined 2.5 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas to Saudi Aramco’s existing capacity. The gas recovered from Hasbah and Arabiyah will be sent to Saudi Aramco’s onshore Wasit gas plant to be processed. The $6 billion Saudi Aramco Wasit gas plant will be its largest gas plant in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and is expected to be operational in 2013.

James A. Huggins, President of CRTS, stated, “CRTS is pleased to partner with Snamprogetti Saudi Arabia on this Saudi Aramco project. We are confident that we will again exceed Saudi Aramco’s expectations. Our work on this project will be a top priority for our technical staff on location in Saudi Arabia as well as the support staff located in the United States and will highlight the capabilities of our proprietary and patented robotic coating technologies.”

Dorwin Hawn, Insituform Senior Vice President, Energy and Mining, said, “The Saudi Aramco Wasit contract award further validates CRTS’s leading position as a developer and provider of offshore robotic field joint coating technologies and applications. We believe that CRTS’s technologies and capabilities combined with our other Energy and Mining companies’ broad service offering and their expanded geographic reach will result in significant growth opportunities for our Energy and Mining group going forward.”

Insituform acquired CRTS on June 30, 2011 to expand further its Energy and Mining group’s service offering and technologies and its presence in the Middle East. Insituform expects the CRTS acquisition, inclusive of the Saudi Aramco Wasit project, to be slightly accretive to earnings in 2011 (before acquisition transaction expenses). For 2012, Insituform expects that the CRTS acquisition will be significantly accretive to earnings, with revenues of more than $50 million.

Source: Insituform Technologies, July 07, 2011;