New pipeline connects Arctic with Europe
The last pipe has been laid at the 482 km long Polarled Pipeline, the first Norwegian pipeline stretching north of the Arctic Circle.
The new piece of underwater infrastructure will connect the Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian Sea with the Nyhamna gas processing facility on the Norwegian west coast.
The pipeline consists of more than 40,000 pipes, Statoil informs in a press release.
When in operation, presumably in 2017, the pipeline will be able to handle all the gas produced at the Aasta Hansteen, as well as several surrounding fields. The Aasta Hansteen holds about 47 billion cubic meters of gas. Statoil has made several more nearby discoveries, among them at the Snefrid Nord field.
The pipeline’s capacity will be up to 70 million standard cubic metres of gas per day, Statoil informs.
The Polarled Pipeline has a diameter of 36 inches and is laid at depths down to 1260 meters. The project investment cost is estimated to about NOK 7.5 billion, a more than 30 percent reduction compared with original budget estimates, the Norwegian energy company says.
“With this pipeline, we open up for the export of gas to Europe from a completely new area, and with the infrastructure in place it will also be more attractive to explore the area,” says Torger Rød, head of projects in Statoil.
