Nick TerdreLow oil prices keep pressure on development
Contributing Editor
Prospects for new pipelay activity in the Norwegian sector in the next couple of years are bleak. On the oil front, depressed prices have put the brakes on development activity here as elsewhere. Activity in Norway's gas markets is relatively unaffected by the oil price, but the country's extensive gas pipeline networks, both internal and external, leave little scope for new lines.
There currently are few new oilfield developments in the pre-approval phase. Statoil recently submitted a development plan for the Statfjord satellite Sygna, which will require a 5-km tieback, and is looking to bring the Heidrun North field on stream in the early 2000s. This will be tied back 10 km to the Heidrun platform.
Statoil is also moving ahead with development of the Yme Beta West satellite, which will require a 2-km pipeline, and a line of similar length to Yme Epsilon for gas storage.
The company is considering the joint development of oil reserves at Sleipner West, Volve and Glitne, but even assuming no price-induced delays; start-up looks unlikely before 2002.
Similarly, Norsk Hydro has a number of prospective oil developments such as Grane, Fram, and Gjoea, but none of these are candidates to come onstream before 2002. Amerada Hess is well advanced in its plans for the marginal Norwegian/Danish Freja field, which would probably require a pipeline of some 20 km to Valhall, but has shelved the project due to low prices.
Gas injection into oilfields is becoming increasingly popular in Norway, and some operators are considering importing gas from other fields for this purpose, thus creating a new source of demand for gas pipelines. Being dependent on oil field development, however, prospects of pipelay work from this source are for the time being deferred.
Pipelaying
The outlook for pipelay contractors is somewhat better in the field of gas development. Here, there is a certain amount of activity attached to Hydro's plans to extend the life of the Heimdal field facilities. Projects to develop both the Vale and Skirne satellite fields, requiring tiebacks of some 15 km and 20 km, respectively, could get underway in the next year or so.Hydro is also keen to link Heimdal to Frigg by means of a 35-km line known as Vesterledd (Western Link). This would provide a route for gas from much of the Norwegian North Sea to the UK, if new outlets could be established there.
Esso is planning at some future time to export surplus gas from the Jotun field into the Statpipe system at Heimdal, which will require a pipeline of some 20 km.
Another gas field needs to be developed to meet Norway's gas export commitments. The authorities are expected to make their decision this year, with the choice probably lying between Statoil's Kvitebjoern and Hydro's Tune. Both lie close to existing processing and export infrastructure - Kvitebjoern some 20 km from Gullfaks and Tune 10 km from Oseberg.
Norske Shell is preparing to develop the small Trym gas/condensate field - approval is expected before mid-year. This will be linked by an 8-km, 8-in line to Maersk's Harald field facilities in the Danish sector.
Off mid-Norway, Saga is planning to develop the Kristin Field, but recently put startup back to 2004. Gas and condensate will be sent separately to Asgard some 30 km distant for transport to shore.
Meanwhile, Norway is seeking new gas markets abroad. A deal could come off in the next couple of years with Denmark, with which discussions have taken place over several years. If it does, a line will be laid from a tee connection built into the Europipe II line where it passes through Danish waters to the Danish west coast, a distance of some 120 km.
This winter, the last of the currently planned export trunklines (the above-mentioned Euro pipe II) is being put in place. Norway will then be connected to the continent by the two Europipe lines, Norpipe, Zeepipe/NorFra. The combined capacity of 80 bcm/year of these lines is sufficient to cater for the country's
current export commitments to the Continent.
High-friction pigs for Norpipe tie-ins
Two specially designed high-friction articulated pigs supplied by Pipeline Engineering (PE) of the UK were used to isolate pipeline feeder sections of the Norpipe gas pipeline when the Ekofisk bypass section was tied in to the main line last summer. Together with standard cleaning pigs, the high-friction pigs were formed into isolation trains designed to hold 3-bar pressure at two tie-in locations on the outskirts of the Ekofisk Field. The trains had to pass reduced-bore tees, hydrocouples, and a new wye section, and then run 139 km to the B-11 booster station to be retrieved.PE's high-performance Hyper Omnithane polyurethane TEC41 was the material selected to achieve optimal disc configuration. Another major challenge, according to PE, was the engineering of suitable ball joints and housing to withstand the shock forces met in running in and out of the reduced bore sections and through bends.
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