Ormen Lange (gas field)

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Ormen Lange Nyhamna
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For other uses, see Ormen Lange.

Ormen Lange is the largest natural gas field in development on the Norwegian continental shelf. The field is situated 120 km northwest of Kristiansund, where seabed depths vary between 800 and 1,100 metre. The reservoir is approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) long and 8 kilometres (5 mi) wide, and lies about 3,000 metres below sea level. Proven gas reserves reach 397 billion cubic meter (bcm).

Total cost is estimated to reach 66 billion Norwegian kroner (around 12 billion USD) by the time of completion.

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[edit] Natural conditions

Extreme natural conditions at the site (subzero temperatures most of the year, stormy seas, strong underwater currents, uneven seabed) put great demands on the technology used in the project. The Storegga Slides that occurred in the area about 8,000 years ago have been investigated, with the conclusion that the risk of recurrence is negligible.

[edit] Concepts and solutions

The Ormen Lange field will be developed without using conventional offshore platforms. Instead, 24 subsea wellheads in four seabed templates on the ocean floor are connected directly by two 30 inches (762 mm) pipelines to an onshore process terminal at Nyhamna. After processing the gas will be exported by the world's longest subsea export pipeline - Langeled pipeline - approximately 1,200 kilometres (746 mi) from Nyhamna to Easington in England. The northern section of the export pipeline will have a diameter of 42 inches (1,067 mm), and the section from Sleipner to Easington will have a diameter of 44 inches (1,118 mm). Production started in October 2007. The field will produce 70 million cubic meter of natural gas per day. Gas from Ormen Lange will be able to meet up to 20% of Britain’s gas demand, for up to 40 years.

The King of Norway attended the official opening of this project, delivered on time and inside budget, on October 6, 2007, at the Aker football stadium in Molde.

[edit] Ownership and operators

Several companies share ownership of Ormen Lange.

Ormen Lange was operated by StatoilHydro during the development stage. On 30 November 2007, Norske Shell took over as the operator.

[edit] Other uses

Ormen Lange (the long serpent) is the name of the most famous longship of Olaf Tryggvason, a 10th century Viking king of Norway.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links