Today, 22 April, the LB200 laybarge started laying the Langeled pipeline. It will be the longest subsea pipeline in the world, transporting Ormen Lange gas from mid-Norway via Sleipner to the UK.
More than a million tonnes of steel will be used for the 1,200-kilometre line, which will lay claim to a third of the world’s total production capacity for this type of pipeline.
Over the next two years 100,000 lengths of pipe will be coated with asphalt and concrete at the Bredero Shaw yard in Farsund in southern Norway. This will require over a million tonnes of concrete and 25,000 tonnes of steel reinforcement.
Stolt Offshore’s LB200 has started laying the pipe from the Sleipner area in the North Sea, heading south towards Easington on the east coast of England. The pipe from Sleipner to Easington will be 44 inches in diameter. The northern leg, between the export terminal at Nyhamna in mid-Norway and Sleipner, will be 42 inches in diameter, and most of this section will be installed next year.
Allseas' Solitaire, another of the world's largest pipelaying vessels, will also be involved in the Langeled pipelaying project.
The pipeline is designed to carry more than 70 million cubic metres of gas per day, equivalent to more than 20 per cent of UK gas needs.
Statoil is responsible for project execution on Langeled on behalf of operator Hydro. The project organisation is staffed with personnel from both Statoil and Hydro.
Hydro is the development operator for the Ormen Lange field in the Norwegian Sea, with Shell scheduled to take over when the field comes on stream in October 2007.