 The MEG pipelines and umbilical cables will link Ormen Lange's subsea production stations, at a depth of 1,100 m, to the onshore gas processing facility at Nyhamna, on the west coast of Norway. Nexans will use its own specially developed Capjet water-jetting system to bury them, to a depth of one metre in the seabed, for protection against accidental impacts and marine activities. The contract covers trenching of two 6 inch MEG pipelines and two umbilicals, each line being approximately 122 km long, as well as trenching of one in-field MEG pipeline and umbilical cable, each approximately 3.5 km in length.
The trenching work will be carried out during the summer of 2006 with two Capjet systems operating in parallel from two vessels. There will also be trenching performed in 2007.
Facts about Ormen Lange
The Ormen Lange gas field was discovered by Hydro in 1997 and is the largest gas field under development on the Norwegian continental shelf. The reservoir is around 40 km long and eight km wide, and approximately 3,000 m below the surface of the sea. Gas from the field will be brought onshore to the Nyhamna facility where it will be processed and compressed for export to the UK through a 1,200 km subsea pipeline to Easington on the east coast of England.
The partners in Ormen Lange are Hydro (18.0728 %, operator for development phase), Shell (17.0375%, operator for production phase), Petoro (36.4750 %), Statoil (10.8441%), Dong (10.3420 %) and ExxonMobil (7.2286 %).
MEG pipeline
To prevent hydrate plugs from forming, Mono Ethylene Glycol (MEG) will be injected as anti-freeze. It will be transported to the field by the 6 inch pipelines and injected continuously into the transport pipelines at each wellhead on the seabed.
Umbilicals
This latest contract for the Ormen Lange project follows a Euros 47 million contract awarded to Nexans by Hydro in July 2004 for the construction of two main umbilicals, both approximately 125 km long, to connect Nyhamna, Norway, to the offshore gas field as well as one 4 km in-field umbilical. The umbilicals, which are being manufactured at the Nexans Halden factory in Norway, will supply hydraulic fluid, electrical power and control signals (via integrated fibre optics) to the subsea production systems.
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