Subsea 7: EU Commission to comment on Saipem tie up

Subsea 7's CEO Stuart Fitzgerald told reporters on Wednesday that the European Commission would likely "comment in the next 24" hours about a possible reopening of its antitrust investigation into the merger between Norway’s Subsea 7 with Italy’s Saipem.

The EU had halted the investigation while the parties supplied additional information.

The deal, announced in February last year, would create a global leader?in offshore services. This includes drilling and engineering as well as subsea infrastructure for offshore oil and natural gas projects. Both companies operate a fleet of vessels to provide these services.

Fitzgerald said on the sidelines an energy conference held in Oslo, "We have provided the data and now we are expecting a restart to occur imminently."

"The 'EU will release a timeline and you can expect them to?come out?probably within the next 24 hours. "We'll let the EU state their timeline, but we know it is imminent," he said.

The 'European Commission', the EU's competition enforcer, stated in July that the deal could?have an impact on competition in certain?offshore markets for engineering and construction services.

(source: Reuters)