New Ruhrgas Line Norway's Den norske stats oljeselskap AS and Germany's Ruhrgas AG have disclosed plans for two links in the pipeline chain that will move more Norwegian gas to Continental Europe.
Statoil and a group of Norwegian gas producers submitted a development plan to Norway's energy ministry for a trunk line from the gas transmission center in Block 16/11 of the Norwegian North Sea to Dunkerque, France.
About the same time, Ruhrgas started laying a gas pipeline from Wardenburg in Lower Saxony to Werne in North-Rhine Westphalia. The line will link two hubs of the Ruhrgas grid to help meet rising gas demand.
WHAT'S PLANNED
The plan submitted by Statoil and partners calls for construction of the world's longest underwater pipeline. It is to be 863 km long and pass through the territorial waters of Norway, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, and France.
A Statoil official said a shorter route option is being considered, which involves passage through U.K. waters, This is viewed as an unlikely choice because Norway and the U.K.'have no agreement on pipelaying, and gas discussions with Britain are "not the most promising arena."
The pipeline has been designated NorFra, but generally was labeled Zeepipe IV until the latest announcement. Statoil said NorFra will cost 9.5 billion kroner ($1.4 billion) to build.
NorFra will be a 40 in. trunk line with capacity to carry 12 billion cu m/year of gas. Due on Stream Oct. 1, 1998, it is calculated to expand Norway's gas export capacity to the continent by 25%.
Statoil said NorFra will be able to take gas from the Troll pipeline system's Kollsnes terminal near Bergen, from the northern North Sea, or from field development projects in the Haltenbanken area of the Norwegian Sea.
Eleven companies are involved in NorFra: Statoil, Norsk Hydro AS, Saga Petroleum AS, Neste Petroleum AS, Norske Shell AS, Esso Norge AS, Elf Petroleum Norge AS, Total Norge AS, Norsk Conoco AS, Mobil Development Norway AS, and Norsk Agip AS.
Operatorship of the group and partners' interests have not been decided. These are to be settled before the energy ministry approves the plan, which Statoil hopes will be in May
Partners are said to have tentatively overbooked capacity in the line. Most likely shareholding split is expected to be weighted according to relative amounts of gas shipped through the line.
The group is likely to pursue a flexible ownership agreement so companies' interests can match changing proportions of gas passing in shipment as new fields go on stream.
Statoil said an industrial area of Dunkerque has been selected for the terminal. This is at Port Ouest, where French authorities also are believed to be keen to site the terminal.
NorFra partners intend to build a gas reception terminal at the port in partnership with Gaz de France, the French state gas company that is expected to take a 35% interest in the terminal.
Norway's biggest gas customer is expected to be Ruhrgas, with deliveries to Germany under the Troll sales agreement expected to climb to a 21 billion cu m/year plateau early next century.
Ruhrgas's Wardenburg-Werne pipeline is being built at an estimated cost of 600 million deutschemarks ($400 million) for completion in October. The pipeline will be 200 km long and 1,200 mm in diameter.
A link to Wardenburg from the German coast at Etzel is under construction. This is part of the Norddeutsche Erdgas-Transversale GmbH (Netra) project to deliver Norwegian gas to Germany (OGJ, Oct. 24, 1994, p. 36).
Gaz de France is due to be one of the biggest buyers of Norwegian gas, taking almost 15 billion cu m/year starting in 2005.
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