The opening of the southern section of the Langeled pipeline - the world's longest subsea pipieline - was celebrated in style in the UK.
A big tea party in Easington on Saturday, a formal inaugural ceremony presided over by prime ministers Tone Blair and Jens Stoltenberg in London on Monday and a celebratory dinner in Beverley on Tuesday – nobody can be in any doubt that new gas from Norway can now be supplied to the UK.
The southern section of Langeled connects the gas intersection point Sleipner on the Norwegian Continental Shelf with Easington in England. Already gas transported through the new pipeline has been sold on the British gas exchange NBP (National Balancing Point). Next year, gas from the large Ormen Lange gas field in the Norwegian Sea will flow through the Langeled pipeline and meet a fifth of total UK gas requirements.