Norpipe

Norpipe is the undersea oil and natural gas pipelines system in the North Sea. It supplies oil from the Norwegian Ekofisk and associated fields in the North Sea to the United Kingdom and natural gas to Germany.

Norpipe oil pipeline
Location
Country	Norway, United Kingdom
General direction	east–west
From	Ekofisk oil field
Passes through	North Sea
To	Teesside
General information
Type	oil
Partners	ConocoPhillips, Total S.A., Equinor, Eni, SDFI
Operator	ConocoPhillips
Commissioned	1975
Technical information
Length	354 km (220 mi)
Diameter	34 in (864 mm)

Norpipe natural gas pipeline
Location
Country	Norway, Germany
General direction	north–south
From	Ekofisk oil field
Passes through	North Sea
To	Emden
General information
Type	natural gas
Owner	Gassled
Partners	Equinor, Petoro, ConocoPhillips, Eni, ExxonMobil, Norsea Gas, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, DONG Energy
Operator	Gassco
Technical service provider	ConocoPhillips
Commissioned	1977
Technical information
Length	440 km (270 mi)
Maximum discharge	16 billion cubic meters per year
Diameter	36 in (914 mm)

Oil pipeline

The Norpipe oil pipeline starts at the Ekofisk 2/4-J facility.[1] In addition to Ekofisk (Cod, Ekofisk, West Ekofisk, Tor, Albuskjell, Eldfisk, Edda, and Embla fields) the pipeline carries oil from Valhall, Hod, Gyda, Ula, Tambar, and Oselvar fields in Norwegian zone, and from several UK's oil fields, such as Fulmar and Auk. A tie-in point for UK fields is located about 50 kilometres (31 mi) from Ekofisk. It has a landfall at Teesside Refinery in England.[2]

The length of pipeline is 354 kilometres (220 mi) and it has diameter of 34 inches (860 mm). The pipeline is owned by Norpipe Oil AS, a consortium which includes ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS (35.05%), TotalFinaElf Exploration Norge AS (34.93%), Statoil (18.5%), Eni Norge AS (6.52%), and SDFI (5%). It is operated by ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS.[2] The pipeline was commissioned in 1975.[3] The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway has granted consent to use the pipeline until 2028.[1] The Norpipe oil pipeline originally had two intermediate booster pump installations in the UK sector designated 37/4A and 36/22A, these were never used and were subsequently bypassed.

Natural gas pipeline

The 440-kilometre (270 mi) long Norpipe natural gas pipeline runs from Ekofisk to a receiving terminal at Emden in Germany. The diameter of pipeline is 36 inches (910 mm) and it has capacity of 16 billion cubic metres (570 billion cubic feet) of natural gas per year.[4] The natural gas pipeline was commissioned in 1977 and will be in use until 2028.[5] The start-up investment was 26.4 billion Norwegian krone. The pipeline is owned by Gassled and operated by Gassco.[5] The technical service provider is ConocoPhillips.

On 30 September 1995, a German cargo ship Reint collided with the Norpipe H7-platform in the German continental shelf. Only minimal damages to the platform, and no injuries to people were caused.[6] The H7 platform has been off-the-service since 1999, and in 2007 a bypass pipe laid around the platform.[7]

See also

• Europipe I
• Europipe II
• Franpipe
• MIDAL

References

1. "ConocoPhillips Gets Go Ahead to Use Norpipe Oil Pipeline Until 2028". Rigzone. 22 July 2008. Retrieved 10 November 2009.
2. "Pipeline Facts" (PDF). Statoil. Retrieved 9 October 2010.
3. "Norpipe Oil Pipeline". Subsea Oil & Gas Directory. Retrieved 10 November 2009.
4. "Natural gas in the Nordic countries" (PDF). Nordic Energy Perspectives. March 2009: 31. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 10 November 2009. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
5. "Gassco gets consent to use B-11 facility, Norpipe until 2028". Scandinavian Oil-Gas Magazine. 20 January 2009. ISSN 1500-709X. Retrieved 10 November 2009.
6. Vinnem, Jan Erik (2007). Offshore risk assessment: principles, modelling and applications of QRA studies. Springer. ISBN 978-1-84628-716-9. Retrieved 10 November 2009.
7. "Gassco plugs in Norpipe bypass". Upstream Online. NHST Media Group. 25 June 2007. Retrieved 10 November 2009.

External links

• Norpipe (Gassco website)