Norwegian Gas Project Has Engineers Going to Extremes
A Norwegian company with a history of big works and a hunger for more is leading the coordinated development of a remotely-controlled deepwater gas field, an innovative landside processing plant and the worlds longest undersea pipeline. It is starting at the bottom, 1,000 meters down,where currents are strong and shifting, the cold water temperature hangs around -1° C and the sea floor is a maze of towering peaks, ravines and boulder-strewn confusion. click here to view map
The Ormen Lange Gas Field, with 400 billion Standard Cubic Meters of gas, (an industry term for gas volume at a standard temperature and pressure) and 28.5 million Sm3 of valuable condensate, is the second-largest gas deposit on Norways oil- and gas-rich continental shelf. The $9.5-billion project to bring its gas to market is led by Norsk Hydro ASA, Oslo, Norway (ENR 3/17/2003 p. 16). Landside civil work at a processing plant is being performed by Skanska Norway, Oslo, with engineering and construction for plant components awarded to Aker Kvaerner ASA and its unit Aker Stord, Oslo, which later merged those contracts, and Vetco Aibel AS, Billingstad, Norway. Hydro and Norways Statoil have joint responsibility for development of the export pipeline. Shell will be the operator.