Nobody suffered any injury, and damage was slight, when Solitaire lost the Europipe II gas trunkline early this morning.
The incident occurred while the laybarge was installing the new line for Statoil in the Danish North Sea sector. Laying had advanced 43 kilometres from the starting point about 100 kilometres off Denmark.
An investigation into the accident is now being launched, and pipelaying will resume as soon as the position has been clarified.
The project team does not believe this incident will influence the start of gas deliveries through Europipe II on 1 October 1999, reports project director Roar Jensen. Solitaire owner Allseas is working to identify necessary countermeasures.