STILL MORE NORWEGIAN GAS HEADED FOR MARKET

Norway's Den norsk stats oljeselskap AS expects to decide in the next 1 2 months on a proposed route for a new pipeline to ship more Norwegian offshore gas to the European market.

Statoil made that announcement Apr. 29 as it inaugurated the first phase of the Zeepipe gas pipeline in the Norwegian North Sea, at more than 800 km said to be the world's longest subsea system. The event was marked at the Zeepipe terminal in Zeebrugge, Belgium.

Peter Mellbye, Statoil's president of natural gas operations, said Norwegian gas exports may reach 70 billion cu m/year by 2005. That amounts to a 15 20 billion cu m/year increase over volumes under contract at present.

PIPELINE OPTIONS

Obligations under the Troll gas sales agreement require pipeline capacity beyond the Zeepipe, Europipe, and Statpipe transmission systems, Mellbye said. He listed future transportation options as:

Loops or increased compression on Zeepipe and Europipe, which would boost the capacity of each pipeline by 4 6 billion cu m/year.
Construction of a fourth offshore pipeline to continental Europe, with a 12 billion cu m/year capacity, to land in France, Belgium, Holland, or Denmark.
Another pipeline to Emden, Germany, parallel to the Europipe system, with a capacity of 12 billion cu m/year.
Participation in the Interconnector project that would allow expansion of export capacity via the Frigg field pipeline and transit via the U.K.

"One or more of these options may materialize in the future," Mellbye said. "The first decisions will be made this year."

Kristian Hausken, Statoil's director of gas supplies and project development, said new capacity is needed not later than 1998 to move more gas into France and Germany.

"With the approval from German authorities to install a second pipeline in the Europipe landfall tunnel, it seems the most cost effective solution will be to install a new pipeline parallel to Europipe," Hausken said.

"This pipeline could be installed in several stages or as one project directly connecting the Kollsnes, Norway terminal to Emden."

The main western option is a new pipeline parallel to Zeepipe, Hausken said, landing in Belgium or France. The chief alternative is seen as installation of a compressor platform on the Zeepipe system. Hausken also said discussions are under way on connection of gas fields off mid Norway into the North Sea gas network through a 600 km pipehne.

"New production capacity must be installed by 2000 to meet our sales obligations," Hausken said. "A decision on gas supply sources will have to be made within a year."

Norway's Gas Negotiating Committee (GFU) is stalled on discussions over which fields will supply gas to Verbundnetz Gas AG in Germany under the Troll contract.

Statoil is thought to favor supply from current fields, while GFU partners Norsk Hydro AS and Saga Petroleum AS are believed to be pushing for new developments in mid Norway's offshore Haltenbanken area.

With U.K. Energy Minister Tim Eggar and his Norwegian counterpart, Jens Stoltenberg, saying in late April that Frigg negotiations are effectively dead, Mellbye said gas shipments from Norway via the proposed Interconnector are being ruled out.

ZEEPIPE

The inauguration ceremony celebrated commercial transportation of Norwegian gas to the European grid via the Zeepipe pipeline since Oct. 1, 1993. Statoil brought gas from East Sleipner field in Block 15/9 on stream then (OGJ, Oct. 11, 1993, p. 36).

Zeepipe's first phase involved building a 40 in., 810 km pipeline from Sleipner A platform off Norway to Zeebrugge, a subsea connection point, a subsea T connection, a terminal at Zeebrugge, and a 30 in., 40 km pipeline from Sleipner A platform to the Statpipe riser platform on Block 16/11 S off Norway.

A second phase will involve laying two pipelines from the Kollsnes terminal one to Sleipner A and the other to a point farther east which will be decided this year.

Zeepipe's third phase is the Europipe system, which will make landfall in Germany and is scheduled for startup in October 1995.

Statoil said the total Zeepipe investment for pipelines and terminals amounted to more than S4 billion. The completed Zeepipe system will involve about 1,300 km of pipelines.