IKM win Gassco Skanled Pipeline design and development contract
Gassco has awarded two contracts today to IKM Gruppen AS on behalf of the companies in the Skanled consortium. These assignments cover design and development for the planned pipeline system and services related to the project.
The Skanled development focuses on a planned gas transport system between Norway, Sweden and Denmark, with a total pipeline length of 853 kilometres. Provision will be made for possible spurs to Lista and Slagentangen in southern and south-eastern Norway. With costs estimated at about NOK 10 billion, an investment decision on the pipeline scheme is due in October 2009. Gas deliveries are planned to start in December 2012.
The Skanled project also involves spending on new facilities at Rafnes south of Oslo, where ethane will be extracted from the gas for local industrial use. With these and other associated developments, the scheme would rank as one of Norway’s largest industrial investments of recent years.
“The Skanled project is complex, and challenges remain to be overcome before it can be given a green light,” says Gassco vice president Thor O Lohne.
“These include gas purchases/sales, technical choices and the economics of the associated projects as well as official approval processes in Norwegian, Sweden and Denmark.”
Under the latest contracts, IKM will pursue design activities related to the pipeline system with associated subsea structures, landfalls and receiving/metering stations. Most of this work will be done at IKM Ocean Design AS in Stavanger and Trondheim.
Phase one of the work will last for a year, with options for detailed engineering of the pipeline system. The two contracts are jointly worth some NOK 50 million up to the investment decision.
“The contracts with IKM Gruppen represent an important milestone in the further development of Skanled, and help to strengthen our project organisation,” says Ole Jan Aarvik, Gassco’s project manager.
“These are two strategically important contracts for us, and reinforce IKM Ocean Design’s position as a leading player in the design and delivery of subsea systems and pipelines,” says Ståle Kyllingstad, chief executive of IKM Gruppen.
