PSA authorizes North Sea Knarr gas pipeline operations

Dec. 2, 2014
Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) Norway has cleared Norwegian trunklines operator Gassco to use a new pipeline for exporting gas from the Knarr field.

Offshore staff

OSLO, Norway – Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) Norway has cleared Norwegian trunklines operator Gassco to use a new pipeline for exporting gas from the Knarr field.

Knarr, operated by BG Norge, is in block 34/3 in the Tampen area in the northern Norwegian North Sea. The field is under development via subsea well templates for production and injection linked to an FPSO.

The gas will be transported through a 106-km (66-mi) long pipeline tied to the FLAGS pipeline system in UK waters for onward transport to St. Fergus in eastern Scotland. Gassco will be the pipeline operator when gas transport begins.

Knarr’s produced oil and condensate will beexported by shuttle tanker.

Gassco also has PSA’s consent to remove and dispose of theB-11 platform in the German North Sea. This was connected to the Norpipe pipeline extending from the Ekofisk field to Emden in northern Germany, until the pipeline was diverted around the facility in summer 2013. 

B-11 was originally operated by ConocoPhillips but operatorship transferred to Gassco in 2003. ConocoPhillips remains technical service provider for the facility, which is no longer in use.

Removal and disposal is scheduled to start in February 2015 and will be completed by 2016. Despite PSA’s consent for this program, the German authorities must also issue their authorization.

12/02/2014