The pipeline carrying rich gas from the Statfjord field in the North Sea to Kårstø north of Stavanger. This previously belonged to the Statpipe joint venture.

Statfjord required a transport solution for associated gas produced together with its oil. This formed the basis for the Statpipe system, which got seriously under way in the autumn of 1981.


With an internal diameter of 30 inches, the line from Statfjord was the first offshore pipeline to cross the Norwegian Trench featurein a water depth of about 350 metres.


A 600-metre concrete culvert was constructed at the Kalstø landfall north of Stavanger to protect the pipeline in the shore zone. The line was subsequently pulled through this culvert. From Kalstø to Kårstø – a distance of 20 kilometres – the line has been laid in trenches and tunnels blasted out beneath three fjords.


These tunnels have at least 50 metres of solid bedrock above them, and go as far down 180 metres beneath sea level.


Two submarine tie-ins have been made to this line, bringing gas in the one case from the Veslefrikk and Brage fields and in the other from Gullfaks.


First gas from Statfjord reached Kalstø at 07.52 on 25 March 1985. This fulfilled the decision taken by Norway’s politicians in the early 1970s that all petroleum from the Norwegian continental shelf should in principle be landed in the country.


After initial flaring at Kalstø, gas reached Kårstø on 25 July 1985. The first cargo of natural gas liquids (NGL) was shipped from Kårstø on 5 November 1985, with dry gas delivered by pipeline to Emden in Germany 2.5 months ahead of schedule.



From

Statfjord

To

Kårstø

Length

308 km

Diameter

30 inches

Available technical capacity

26.7 Mscm/d

Technical service provider (TSP)

Statoil

Operator

Gassco

Gassled

Area A