Statoil has laid the last pipe of 482.4km Polarled pipeline project to transport gas from the Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian Sea to Nyhamna in western Norway.
The Polarled pipeline, which crosses the Arctic Circle and opens up a new route for gas from the Norwegian Sea to Europe, has been laid using pipe-laying vessel Solitaire’from Allseas.
With a transport capacity of up to 70 million standard cubic meters of gas per day, the pipeline project involves expansion of the Shell-operated gas plant at Nyhamna.
Statoil projects head Torger Rød said: "The original investment budget for the pipeline project was Nkr11.1bn. We now expect an investment level of around Nkr7.5bn.
"This is due to good planning, good market knowledge and good execution, and the fact that we could combine several large projects when we went to the market and negotiated for pipes and vessels.
"Based on this, we were able to achieve favourable conditions in the market with regard to capacity and price."
Statoil commenced the pipelaying work in March and installed more than 40,000 pipes, each measuring 36 inches in diameter, in water depths of up to 1260m.
Statoil marketing, midstream and processing business area asset management head Grete Haaland said: "Tying in a new Norwegian Sea area to the gas transportation network Polarled will be an important link for further gas export, thus strengthening Norway’s position as a reliable supplier to the European gas market."
The new 480km gas pipeline from Aasta Hansteen to Nyhamna in Møre og Romsdal county, PolarledI, is expected to support Aasta Hansteen and other fields in the Norwegian Sea.
Image: Solitaire pipelaying vessel was used for the Polarled pipeline project. Photo: © Statoil.