Storting approves landing gas at Kårstø

By Gunleiv Hadland, Norwegian Petroleum Museum

Statoil proposed in the late 1970s that gas from Statfjord should be brought ashore at Kårstø north of Stavanger – the first genuine plan for a pipeline landfall in Norway. A year later, rival Norwegian oil company Norsk Hydro proposed that the gas should be landed at the Mongstad refinery site north of Bergen. The respective communities rallied to these two plans – the county of Rogaland supporting Kårstø and the neighbouring Hordaland county backing Mongstad. But Statoil ultimately won.

— The processing plant at Kårstø. Illustration: Jan Ulriksen

Its chief executive, Arve Johnsen, described the day when the Storting (parliament) approved the construction of the Statpipe gas transport system, the Kårstø terminal and the Gullfaks development as the high point of the state company’s development that far, and a red-letter day in Norwegian oil history.

When the Storting considered the issue on 10 June 1981, 94 representatives backed Kårstø while 54 were in favour of Mongstad. Statoil was to be the operator for development and production of Gullfaks and the Statpipe system. The latter would carry gas from Heimdal, Gullfaks and Statfjord.

A group of oil companies with interests in these three fields established the I/S Statpipe joint venture, also known as the Statpipe group. This comprised Statoil as operator with 60 per cent, Elf Aquitaine Norge 10 per cent, Norsk Hydro eight per cent, Mobil seven per cent, Esso five per cent, Norske Shell five per cent, Total Marine Norsk A/S three per cent and Saga Petroleum two per cent.

Sources
Kindingstad, Torbjørn, et al. Norwegian Oil History . Stavanger 2002, p 233.
Helle, Egil (ed). Olje og energi i ti år 1978-88: en jubileumsbok om Olje- og energidepartementet . Oslo 1987, p 84.
Statoil. Statpipe – en Europavei for norsk gass , Stavanger 1986, p 5.
Proposition no 102 to the Storting (1980-1981). Ilandføring av gass fra Statfjordfeltet og Heimdalfeltet mv .