Gas pipeline agreements

Since the British licensees in Statfjord were not allowed to sell their gas to continental Europe, a separate UK Gas Offtake pipeline was laid as part of Sips from Statfjord B to the UK side of the boundary. There it tied into the Northern Leg Gas Pipeline (NLGP), a gas gathering line for fields north of Brent. The Statfjord Unit owns that part of the UK Gas Offtake line which lies within its boundaries, while the British licensees own the section to the west, including the NLGP tie-in. The UK government demanded the inclusion of a non-return valve in this line, so that British gas could not be conducted to Statfjord B.

This line was regulated by the Agreement for Installation and Tie-in of the UK Pipeline to the Statfjord B Platform and to the Northern Leg Gas Pipeline , which entered into on 1 February 1983. The UK Statfjord Gas Offtake Operating Services between Mobil Exploration Norway Inc and Conoco (UK) Ltd service agreement was also signed on 27 September 1985. A gas pipeline was laid from Gullfaks A to Statfjord C under a separate Agreement for Tie-in and Operation of the Gullfaks Pipeline to the Statfjord C Platform between the two sets of licensees,   dated 27 September 1984.

Gas from Gullfaks was carried via Sips before entering Statpipe until the end of the 1990s, when Gullfaks acquired a new tie-in to Statpipe south of Statfjord. Gas transit via Statfjord accordingly terminated, but the pipeline from Gullfaks is still intact and usable and the tie-in agreement remains operative.

Statpipe tie-in

Gassrøravtaler,

Although the Statpipe system starts from the field, it does not form part of the Statfjord Unit. A separate pipeline and transport company was established after the gas from Statfjord, Gullfaks and Heimdal had been sold in 1982.

The purpose of this joint venture was to install pipelines and build the Kårstø processing plant north of Stavanger in order to export gas from the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) via Ekofisk to Emden in Germany. Where Statfjord was concerned, this meant that a contract was signed on 12 July 1984 between the Statfjord Unit and Statpipe concerning the tie-in of the pipeline to Statfjord and its subsequent operation.

 Statfjord B serves as the starting point for Statpipe, and the valve system on the seabed is operated from that platform. But it was Statfjord C, via Sips, which was responsible for maintaining pump pressure in the pipeline and ensuring that the gas flowed to Kårstø.
Statpipe later became part of the Gassled joint venture, and the section from Statfjord to Kårstø now lies in Gassled’s tariff zone 1. In connection with the Statfjord late life (SFLL) project, the connection between Sips and Gassled was severed in 2007. Statfjord B now provides the connection with Gassled.

Statpipe-Statfjord transportation agreement

Dated 30 September 1985, this contract secured transport rights in Statpipe for the Norwegian share licensees in Statfjord. The agreement still exists in principle, but was converted on 1 January 2003 to individual contracts for each licensee following the adoption of the EU’s gas directive. Each company accordingly has its own transport agreement. That was also the original position, but based on a single contract.
Similarly, each of the licensees in the Norwegian share of Statfjord had separate sales agreements for its proportion of the gas with the buyer consortium in continental Europe. These contracts were terminated in 2007, since the volume sold under them was deemed to have been delivered. Statfjord gas, including output from the SFLL project, is sold today to the UK.

Tampen Link

Gassrøravtaler,

As part of SFLL, the decision was taken to lay a new pipeline from Statfjord to tie into the Far North Liquids and Associated Gas System (Flags) in the UK North Sea. The latter runs from Brent to St Fergus in Scotland.
Tampen Link is a separate company operated by Gassled. Dated 22 February 2005, the contract related to Statfjord has a long name: Agreement Between the Tampen Link Joint Venture and the Statfjord Group for the Installation and Tie-in of the Tampen Link Transportation Facilities to the Statfjord Facilities and the Operation of the Tampen Link Statfjord Facilities and the Operation of the Tampen Link Statfjord Facilities and the Transit Services at the Statfjord Facilities.
This agreement makes it possible to transport gas from Statfjord directly to Flags and the UK, and from other fields in transit via Statfjord to the same destination.

Crossing agreements

Since Statfjord is a hub for oil and gas exports from the northern North Sea, a number of pipelines large and small have been laid. Where these cross over each other, a crossing agreement has to be established. You cannot simply lay your pipeline over one belonging to somebody else and possibly cause damage. This must be regulated.

The following agreements have been established so far:

• Crossing of the Statfjord B Pipeline and the Statfjord Control Umbilical by the Penguin Pipelines and Cable , dated 22 March 2002. (Penguin is a small UK field tied back to Brent.)
• Pipeline Crossing and Laying Agreement Between Statfjord Unit and Sygna Unit , dated 14 April 2000.
• Pipeline Crossing Agreement Between Statfjord East and Statfjord North Flank , dated 1 April 1999. (the north flank is the northernmost part of Statfjord, developed with subsea wells).
• Pipeline Crossing Agreement Between Tampen Link and Statfjord Unit , dated 20 November 2006.