Sam Fletcher
OGJ Online
HOUSTON, Mar. 5 -- Marathon Oil Co., Houston, is planning a new North Sea natural gas pipeline that will assure adequate supplies for the growing UK market for the next 20 years.
"We propose to facilitate the transportation of new and existing UK and Norwegian gas supplies to the growing market in the southern region of the UK while enhancing the value of existing North Sea infrastructure, including Marathon's Brae and Heimdal facilities," said Clarence P. Cazalot Jr., Marathon's president and CEO.
"These facilities are uniquely suited to give the UK and Europe expanded access to the significant natural gas resources of the North Sea," he said.
The proposed 675 km dry natural gas pipeline would connect the Norwegian Heimdal area of the North Sea to Bacton, on the southeast coast of the UK. It would terminate at or near the existing Bacton Terminal and is expected to move some 900 MMcfd
Marathon officials told OGJ they expect to get the gas to fill the new pipeline's capacity from both existing and future production in the UK and Norwegian sectors of the North Sea. But they won't know the exact source of the gas to be transported until Marathon completes its proposed open season through October, during which UK and Norwegian gas owners and operators will be invited to offer gas volumes and contract for capacity on the pipeline. Meanwhile, Marathon has invited several parties to invest in the project.
The pipeline would pass through the Marathon-operated UK Brae complex and pass near the UK Miller and Britannia complexes. Those installations are among the largest gas processing and transportation facilities in the UK North Sea.
The Brae and Heimdal facilities have significant compression and processing capacity, but a Marathon spokesman stopped short of saying it would be sufficient for the additional pipeline. However, the close proximity of those facilities to the Norwegian-UK border puts them in a position to route new gas supplies from that area into that system, officials said.
Centrica PLC, a UK-based natural gas retail marketer and producer, agreed to support the project as a potential purchaser of the transported gas. It is a leading player in the UK energy market, supplying more than 13.5 million gas customers under the British Gas brand. Centrica was spun off from British Gas PLC in 1997.
Company officials said the pipeline could be operational in 2005, assuming timely approval by UK, Norwegian, and other European regulators, satisfactory supply commitments, financing arrangements, and engineering design.
Contact Sam Fletcher at [email protected]
