Corus Tubes steelworks will supply pipe for the Kvitebjørn oil pipeline, which will be laid between the Kvitebjørn gas and condensate field and Troll Oil Pipeline II in the North Sea.
The contract, which is worth around NOK 100 million, includes the manufacture of 90 kilometres of 16 inch steel pipe.
The order is for high frequency longitudinally welded pipe (HFW) – not seamless, which is usual for this dimension of pipe.
Jostein Breivik, coordinator for the pipelines in the Kvitebjørn project, reports that pipe manufactured in this way has already been tested on the Norwegian continental shelf, but not by Statoil.
The lengths of pipe are made by applying high frequency alternating current during the welding. Consequently, it is not necessary to use flux. This is a relatively new and efficient method of production, and as a result the project has reduced pipe costs by about 20 per cent.
The contract for the installation of the oil pipeline will be entered into in May, reports Mr Breivik.
The Kvitebjørn condensate will be transported in the Kvitebjørn oil pipeline via Troll Oil Pipeline II to the Statoil-operated Mongstad terminal near Bergen for storage and export. The rich gas will go through a separate pipeline to the Kollsnes plant, where fluids will be separated and sent for treatment at the Vestprosess plant at Mongstad.
The gas will be piped to customers in continental Europe.
The Kvitebjørn field is planned to come on stream in the autumn of 2004.