Britain and Norway have agreed on treaty principles that will enable gas to be transported from the Ormen Lange field offshore Norway to the British market. The agreement is based on delivery of third-party gas through the southern leg from the Sleipner riser platform to Easington in the UK by October 2006.
Deliveries of gas from Ormen Lange will start through the northern leg from Nyhamna to the Sleipner riser platform in October 2007.
"We are very pleased that we have had this clarification about the treaty principles. This enables us to continue the work on the Ormen Lange project according to the planned schedule," said director Bengt Lie Hansen, chairman of the Ormen Lange unit management committee.
The Ormen Lange plan for development and operation and the pipeline plan for installation and operation will be submitted to the Norwegian authorities in Q4 2003, and the pipeline works authorization submitted to the UK authorities early 2004.
The Ormen Lange field is the largest gas field under development on the Norwegian continental shelf. The planned volumes to be exported to the UK amount to nearly 20 bcm/yr over a 20-year period. The total length of the pipeline from Nyhamna in Norway to Easington in UK is 1,200 km.
The Ormen Lange field is located 100 km off the Norwegian northwest coast at a water depth of 1,000 m.
Norsk Hydro operates the Ormen Lange license with 17.965% interest. Partners are A/S Norske Shell with 17.2%, Petoro AS with 36%, BP Norge AS with 10.888%, Statoil ASA with 10.774%, and Esso Exploration and Production Norway AS with 7.182%.
10/2/03