Hydro's Ormen Lange project received the Global Energy Project of the Year Prize at Platts Global Energy Awards ceremony in New York on November 30.
According to the organizers, the Ormen Lange project was unanimously voted into first place by all ten of Platts Global Energy Awards judges. This was the first-time ever in the history of the awards that any entry has received such an endorsement. Among the nominees for Global Energy Project of the Year were the companies ABB, American Electric Power and Saudi Aramco.
"On behalf of the operator Hydro and its Ormen Lange project partners, Norwegian offshore technology – through the Ormen Lange field development – is today breaking technology barriers, which only a few years ago were looked upon as impossible to overcome," says senior vice president Tom Røtjer, who is Hydro's project director for the Ormen Lange project .
"In 2000 our vision was to bring the gas to shore without a platform. In 2004 the USD 10 billion project was sanctioned, and next year we will supply energy to the British people as promised."
Hydro is today well under way of finalizing the project, within the agreed budget and time limits.
"Only a close cooperation with the Norwegian and international supply industry, and between project partners such as Shell, Statoil, ExxonMobil, Petoro and Dong, made it possible to realize the huge task of developing the Ormen Lang gas field," Røtjer adds.
The development of the Ormen Lange field has been the largest project Hydro has ever undertaken, at a total estimated cost of NOK 66 billion, or close to US 10 billion. It involves the installation of a number of production units on the seabed 850 to 900 meters below sea level, onshore processing in Norway, and the world’s longest subsea export pipeline.
The Ormen Lange field, located in the Norwegian Sea 120 kilometers off the coast of west Norway, was proven through drilling by Hydro in 1997. Gas from Ormen Lange is expected to supply 20 per cent of the UK’s gas needs when the project comes on stream in October 2007.
The Global Energy Awards were established in 1999 as a way of recognizing outstanding achievement and vision in the global energy industry. Each year, the mission of the Platts Global Energy Awards is to single out the energy industry’s star performers, recognizing corporate achievements, the strongest individual efforts, and the most compelling community supporters.
The Global Energy Awards judges has evaluated more than 200 entrants and selected the finalists based on the criteria for each category, taking into consideration the company's profile and financial performance within the designated time-frame.