The 482.4 km, 36 inch pipeline was laid at a depth of 1,260 m and is the first pipeline on the Norwegian continental shelf that crosses the Arctic Circle, as well as the deepest pipeline on the Norwegian continental shelf.
The pipeline extends from Nyhamna in MÌüre og Romsdal, western Norway, to the Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian Sea, and was laid by the world’s largest pipelaying vessel, “÷Solitaire’ from Allseas. It is the first time that a 36 inch pipe has been laid at such a depth.
The pipelaying work commenced in March this year and consists of more than 40,000 pipes, each of which is 12 m in length.
The pipeline’s capacity will be up to 70 MMcm/d of gas.
The original investment budget for the pipeline project was NOK 11.1 billion (approximately $US1.3 billion), and the project now expects an investment level of around NOK 7.5 billion (approximately $US0.9 billion).
Initally, only gas from Aasta Hansteen will be transported through Polarled, however the pipeline has space for more.
“We have therefore installed six connection points or future slip roads to the new gas highway,” said Polarled development project director HÌ´kon Ivarjord.
“With this pipeline, we open up the export of gas to Europe from a completely new area,” Mr Ivarjord said.