British and Norwegian gas transport agreement
Posted: 3 October 2003
The British and Norwegian authorities have reached agreement on
the most important principles for a new treaty between the two nations.
The accord is partly intended to establish the framework for additional
pipelines running from the Norwegian continental shelf to the UK.
The British and Norwegian authorities have reached agreement on
a new treaty which provides the framework for laying new pipelines
from the NCS to the UK. (Illustration: Thor Oliversen)
"We need the assurance of this agreement before we can begin
to invest in a new pipeline," explains Øyvind Kirkhus,
head of new infrastructure at Statoil's Natural Gas business area.
Norway's Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and the UK Department
of Trade and Industry are due to incorporate the agreed principles
in a treaty within the next year.
The Ormen Lange gas field licensees in the Norwegian Sea and ConocoPhillips
plan to invest almost NOK 20 billion in the 1,200-kilometre Britpipe
trunkline.
This project includes a tie-in to Statoil's Sleipner fields in
the North Sea as well as land-based facilities in north-eastern
England.
A plan for installation and operation of Britpipe is due in November,
and the facility could be ready in the autumn of 2006. Ormen Lange
is scheduled to start producing a year later.
"This pipeline will give us opportunities to become a substantial
supplier of gas to Britain," Mr Kirkhus observes.
The UK gas market is the biggest in Europe, consuming 110 billion
cubic metres per year, and Britpipe will allow some 20 billion cubic
metres to be supplied annually from Norway.
This capacity comes on top of roughly 12 billion annual cubic metres
through the Vesterled pipeline, which runs from Heimdal via the
Frigg Transport system to St Fergus in Scotland.
Statoil and the state's direct financial interest (SDFI) will own
almost half of the total capacity.
Norsk Hydro is development operator for Ormen Lange and its transport
system, while Statoil has responsibility for planning and constructing
a pipeline in cooperation with Hydro.
The latter will be laid from the planned export terminal at Nyhamn
in mid-Norway, via the Sleipner fields, to Easington on the English
coast.
Posted by Richard Price,
Editor Pipeline Magazine
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