The 482 km, 36 inch diameter pipeline will run from Nyhamna in western Norway to the Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian Sea.
The world’s largest pipelaying vessel, Solitaire from Allseas, is carrying out the job and is advancing slowly, 24.4 m at a time, every sixth minute or so, around the clock.
During the start-up in March the pipeline was pulled in to Nyhamna. During September, the vessel will arrive at the Aasta Hansteen field, if weather permits.
Polarled will also be the deepest pipeline on the Norwegian continental shelf – by the Aasta Hansteen field the water depth is 1,260 m. According to Statoil, it will be the first time a 36 inch pipe is laid in such deep waters anywhere in the world.
At start-up the gas from Aasta Hansteen will be the only gas passing through Polarled, but the pipeline has capacity for more gas.
“We have therefore installed six connection points, call it future slip roads to the new gas highway,” said Statoil’s project venture manager for the Polarled development project HÌ´kon Ivarjord.
“Polarled will open up for gas export to Europe from a completely new gas province, and with the infrastructure in place it will also be more attractive to explore the surrounding area.”
The pipeline will have a capacity of 2.4 Bcf/d. The contract is valued at approximately $US4 million and is expected to run until the end of the pipeline installation, in the third quarter of 2015.