Polarled pipeline crosses Arctic Circle

Norway

OSLO, August 21, 2015 – The pipeline being laid by Norway’s Statoil that will carry gas from the Norwegian Sea to Europe has crossed the Arctic Circle, the majority state-owned company said on Friday. The 482-kilometre Polarled pipeline will be Norway’s northernmost piece of gas infrastructure and the first to enter the country’s Arctic territory.

Work on the 32-inch pipeline began in March 2015, and is being executed by the Solitair vessel leased from offshore pipelaying company Allseas Group. The pace of installation is around 4 kilometres per day, with the project due for completion in late 2015. With a route that spans water depths of 1,265 metres, it will be the deepest a pipe of such width has ever been laid.

The pipeline ends at Nyhamna on Norway’s west coast and will initially target gas produced from Statoil’s Aasta Hansteen field, which lies 300 kilometres offshore north of the Arctic Circle. First gas is scheduled to flow in early 2017, and six connection points have been installed to link the pipeline with adjacent fields.

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