Langeled Pipeline to Deliver New Gas to U.K.

The Langeled pipeline from Norway will start delivering gas to the United Kingdom this week, according to a report by the Sunday Telegraph (www.telegraph.co.uk). The 750-mile pipeline, which is owned by a partnership of Statoil ASA (www.statoil.com), Norsk Hydro ASA (www.hydro.com), Royal Dutch Shell (www.shell.com), and ConocoPhillips (www.conocophillips.com), is expected to provide about 20 percent of the United Kingdom”s peak gas demand.

Operators will commence a 15-day commissioning period this week to test the flow of gas through the Langeled pipeline, which is the world”s longest submarine gas pipe, situated at a depth of 1,000 metres in the Norwegian Sea, 100 kilometres northwest of the Norwegian coast. Commercial operations on the pipeline are due to start Oct. 1. Once it is fully commissioned, the pipeline will provide the first new significant supplies of gasoline to the United Kingdom in decades.