DONG BRITPIPE GAS IMPORTATION (TEN)

The project is an integrated gas production and importation scheme that includes the subsea development of the Ormen Lange gas field (100km off the coast of mid-Norway) combined with an onshore gas processing plant and a 1,200km gas import pipeline to a receiving terminal at Easington, UK. The pipeline is routed via the Sleipner nodal platform, thus offering the flexibility of importing Ormen Lange gas to mainland Europe as well as importing gas production from other gas fields into the UK eventually supplying some 21 bcm p.a.

The project is an Energy-TEN of common interest. It will represent a new source of gas supply to the UK gas market, which is expected to become a net importer of gas from 2007, and will increase the UK security of supply. The capacity of the project is equivalent to about 20% of current UK gas consumption.

The project falls under Annex I of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive (85/337/EEC as amended by 97/11/EC). All EIAs, both in Norway and the UK, have been completed and the project’s environmental approvals have been obtained. The EIAs indicate that all potential negative environmental impacts can be avoided or mitigated to an acceptable level. Furthermore, they have found the project to be unlikely to have significant effects on a site of nature conservation importance.

The operator has confirmed that its procurement procedures comply with EC/EEA regulations for entities operating in the water, energy transport and telecommunication sector, as implemented in the Norwegian Law. These regulations apply to all procurement activities unless specifically exempted. All main contracts are subject to formal international tendering or international consultation of pre-qualified firms. The operator is a subscriber to the Aquiles joint qualification system. The system establishes common vendor lists after regular publication of pre-qualification notices in the Official Journal of the European Union in compliance with EU directive 93/38.