Polarled Pipeline News

Norway's gas exports hit a new high of 36.8 billion cubic meters (bcm) this summer and the annual deliveries will be on a par with the record annual figure achieved in 2017, gas system operator Gassco said on Friday.Between May and August, which is normally a season with fewer gas exports, Norway's deliveries almost matched a normal winter level as European importers needed to refill depleted gas storages which drained during last year's cold winter."It's too early to say exactly where we'll end up this year…

On 26 March, the Solitaire pipe-laying vessel started on the first stage of the Polarled installation project. The 482-kilometre long pipeline will transport gas from the Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian Sea to Nyhamna in western Norway. Statoil is operator during the development of the Polarled project and therefore responsible for laying the pipeline between Aasta Hansteen and Nyhamna. As operator for the gas plant, Shell is responsible for preparing the Nyhamna processing plant for gas reception. “I am pleased to note that the pipeline is now connected to the Nyhamna processing plant. The pipeline pull-in to Nyhamna is an important milestone to the project and the Polarled licensees,” says Håkon Ivarjord, MPR’s project venture manager.

Wintershall has taken over the operatorship of the subsea oil and gas field Vega from Statoil, Wintershall announced today. Vega is the BASF subsidiary’s first operated subsea tie-in field in Norway. With this transfer, Germany-based Wintershall now operates two production fields on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, Brage and Vega. The takeover of the Vega operatorship is part of a transaction with Statoil that was completed in December 2014. Winteshall is currently producing more than 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in Norway.

Several key oil and gas developments in Norway will cost much more than earlier expected and fields with approved development plans are now seen 10 percent more expensive than originally planned, the oil and energy ministry said on Wednesday. Costs in Norway's offshore oil sector, already one of the most expensive in the world, have soared in recent years, weighing on the budget which provides generous tax breaks during the development phase. The government has already said it would reduce tax breaks for new developments and the oil ministry launched an investigation into why costs soar.

The Kristin gas export project (KGEP) partners have made a decision to terminate the project due to unsustainable economics caused by increased investment costs and increased risk to volume availability. The Kristin gas export project (KGEP) – a pipeline connection between the Kristin field and Polarled – was sanctioned by the KGEP partners (Statoil 53.4%, Petoro 35.6% and GdFS 11%) in conjunction with the Polarled project sanction late 2012. Following the last year's project development, the partners have decided to terminate the project based on unsustainable project economics.

The Polarled-pipeline will export gas from Statoil's Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian Sea to the Nyhamna gas plant. Statoil has awarded Marubeni Itochu/JFE the fabrication contract for linepipe to the Polarled project, while Wasco has been awarded the coating contract, and Allseas the pipe-laying contract. The coating contract includes the establishment of a new production base in Mo i Rana, Northern Norway. "The Norwegian Sea is an exciting area on the Norwegian continental shelf. Polarled underpins this.

Statoil awards Ramboll Oil & Gas the detailed design contract for the 36” & 18" pipelines for the 481 km-long Polarled project. The Polarled pipeline project, which crosses the Polar circle, is part of the plans for developing fields further north in the Norwegian Sea. The purpose is to ensure gas transport capacity for gas volumes from planned and future field developments, such as the field developments of Aasta Hansteen, Linnorm and Zidane. Part of the 36” Polarled pipeline…