Equinor’s Sleipner Riser Platform Shuts Down After Pipeline Crack, Delays Gas Deliveries To U.K

Equinor’s Sleipner Riser platform has been forced to suspend some of its gas transport operations due to a crack discovered in a pipeline on board.

This has caused substantial disruptions in the European gas market.

The incident caused a 10% surge in the benchmark Dutch TTF natural gas futures market, which settled down to a 5% increase by the end of Monday’s trade.

Gassco, the Norwegian gas production business, claimed that the crack was discovered in a two-inch pipeline on the Sleipner Riser platform.

This platform acts as a crucial link between the Langeled North and Langeled South pipelines, which supply Norwegian gas to UK markets.

The connection has been temporarily shut down for maintenance, causing an outage in natural gas exports from the Nyhamna processing facility to the UK’s Easington receiving terminal.

The Langeled pipeline system, known as Britpipe, is an undersea gas line completed between 2006 and 2007.

It connects Easington to the Sleipner Riser platform, which connects to Nyhamna, which feeds gas from the Ormen Lange field.

With a maximum capacity of approximately 26 billion cubic meters per year, the Langeled system meets almost one-fifth of the UK’s yearly natural gas requirements.

The Sleipner Riser platform, part of the larger Sleipner field infrastructure, delivers dry gas from the productive Sleipner field to pipelines that connect to Draupner, Zeebrugge, and Easington.

It is also a transfer point for an export pipeline from the onshore Kollsnes gas processing plant.

Equinor has made significant investments in electrifying operations at the Sleipner field.

As of April, all installations in the area received electricity from shore, leading to an annual CO2 savings of around 1.2 million tonnes.

According to media sources, despite efforts to address the pipeline issue, no specific repair timeframe has been established.

The suspension impacts deliveries from the field to the UK, although deliveries to St Fergus in Scotland are unaffected.

The Sleipner area comprises the Sleipner Øst, Gungne, and Sleipner Vest gas and condensate fields and tie-in fields such as Sigyn, Volve, Gudrun, and Gina Krog.

Reference: Reuters

Equinor’s Sleipner Riser Platform Shuts Down After Pipeline Crack, Delays Gas Deliveries To U.K appeared first on Marine Insight – The Maritime Industry Guide

Source: Maritime Shipping News