The Langeled pipeline (originally known as Britpipe) is an underwater gas pipeline transporting Norwegian

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Before the completion of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, it was the longest subsea pipeline in the world.

History

The project was launched under the original name Britpipe. In October 2003, Royal Dutch Shell,

ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...

and Statoil signed agreements to supply natural gas through the Britpipe. The pipeline's construction began in 2004. The largest part of the pipeline was installed by Acergy Piper, a pipe-laying ship of Acergy. Other pipe-laying ships used were Solitaire of Allseas, and Saipem 7000 of Saipem. The pipeline was opened in two stages. The southern section ( Sleipner Riser platform to Easington) began piping gas on 1 October 2006, the northern section ( Nyhamna to Sleipner Riser) opened in October 2007. The official opening of the project was held in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 16 October 2006 by then-

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

and his Norwegian counterpart, Jens Stoltenberg.

Route

The pipeline runs through the North Sea from the Nyhamna terminal in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

via the Sleipner Riser platform in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

to Easington Gas Terminal in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The pipeline is designated to bring natural gas from the Ormen Lange gas process terminal to the UK, but through the connector at Sleipner Riser it provides also an opportunity to send gas through Gassco's existing network to

continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by som ...

Technical description

The annual capacity of the Langeled pipeline is . That equates to some 20% of Britain's peak gas demand. With the energy content of natural gas at 39 MJ (megajoules) per normal cubic meter, the capacity energy flux is 31.5 GW (gigawatts). The Langeled pipeline supplements the Vesterled system with annual capacity about 12 bcm, which runs from the Heimdal gas field platform in the North Sea to St. Fergus in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The project cost £1.7 billion.

Nyhamna-Sleipner Riser section

The Nyhamna-Sleipner Riser leg has a diameter of and can operate with a pressure of 250 bar.

Hub at Sleipner Riser

At Sleipner Riser the Langeled has a connection to the existing Gassled transport system.

Sleipner Riser-Easington section

The Sleipner Riser-Easington leg has a diameter of , which makes it the largest submarine pipeline in the North Sea. Its pressure is 155 bar.

Ownership and operation

The owner of the Langeled pipeline is Gassled. The operator for Langeled is Gassco and technical service provider is

Equinor Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger, Norway. It is primarily a petroleum company, petroleum company operating in 36 countries with additional investments in renew ...

. Equinor also runs the gas export project. The principal funding for the project was provided by the syndicated loan structured by ABN AMRO and mainly subscribed by several banks, among them Barclays Bank,

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland Public Limited Company () is a major retail banking, retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest and Ulster Bank. The Royal Bank of Sco ...

, and Defoe Fournier & Cie.

References

External links

{{Wikinews, Work begins on world's longest underwater pipeline
Langeled
Statoil website
Langeled
Gassco website Natural gas pipelines in Norway Natural gas pipelines in the United Kingdom North Sea energy Pipelines under the North Sea Norway–United Kingdom relations Equinor 2006 establishments in England 2006 establishments in Norway