New German Terminal for Norwegian Gas

execs say go — A symbolic "GO" for shutting down the old terminal and taking the new facilities into operation. From left: Gassco General manager Germany Alfred Sk?r Hansen, German minister of Economics, Labour and Transport in Lower Saxony Olaf Lies, Norwegian secretar

A new facility in Germany for receiving gas exports from Norway was officially inaugurated in Emden on Tuesday.

The facility replaces the existing Norsea Gas Terminal (NGT), which became operational in 1977 in connection with the development of Norway’s Ekofisk field. It receives a substantial proportion of the Norwegian gas delivered to Germany through the Norpipe pipeline, and has a daily capacity of 34.1 million standard cubic meters.

“Construction of the new Emden terminal has been one of the most important assignments we at Gassco have ever undertaken as operator,” says Frode Leversund, CEO of Gassco. “The new terminal ensures gas supplies to Germany for many decades to come and strengthens Norway’s role as a key energy supplier to the European market.”

The Gassled joint venture took the investment decision in the autumn of 2012. The new terminal has been constructed on an unused part of the existing terminal site. Physical work began in the autumn of 2013 after the contract to build the facility had been awarded to Linde Engineering Dresden GmbH.

While the project has not increased export capacity for Norwegian gas, the new terminal’s functionality will be well tailored to meet future demand for processing gas from the Ekofisk area and other parts of the Norwegian continental shelf.

The project has been completed within the schedule and well below budget. About 2,000 tons of steel, 1,700 meters of large-diameter piping, 250,000 meters of instrument cables, 330,000 meters of electrical cables and 10,000 tons of concrete have been installed on the site. In addition, 1,710 concrete piles have been driven in to stabilize the ground. The new terminal covers about 1.2 hectares (12 000 square meters).

More gas than ever before was delivered from the Norwegian continental shelf to Europe in 2015, with 108 billion standard cubic meters dispatched within Gassco’s operatorship to receiving terminals in Germany, Belgium, France and the U.K.

Norway is the largest holder of crude oil and natural gas reserves in Europe, and it provides much of the petroleum liquids and natural gas consumed on the continent. Norway was the third-largest exporter of natural gas in the world after Russia and Qatar in 2013. According to the Oil & Gas Journal, Norway had 72 trillion cubic feet of proved natural gas reserves as of January 1, 2015.