Equinor's Sleipner Riser platform has had to halt some of its gas transport operations due to a crack discovered in an onboard pipeline. This disruption has significantly impacted the European gas market.
The incident triggered a 10% surge in the benchmark Dutch TTF natural gas futures market, which later stabilized to a 5% increase by the end of Monday's trading.
Gassco, the Norwegian gas operator, reported that the crack was found in a two-inch pipeline on the Sleipner Riser platform. This platform is a key junction between the Langeled North and Langeled South pipelines, which transport Norwegian gas to the UK.
Due to maintenance, the connection has been temporarily shut down, leading to a halt in natural gas exports from the Nyhamna processing facility to the UK's Easington receiving terminal.
The Langeled pipeline system, also known as Britpipe, is an undersea gas line completed between 2006 and 2007. It links Easington to the Sleipner Riser platform, which in turn connects to Nyhamna, supplying gas from the Ormen Lange field.
With a maximum capacity of around 26 billion cubic meters per year, the Langeled system provides nearly one-fifth of the UK's annual natural gas needs.
The Sleipner Riser platform, part of the broader Sleipner field infrastructure, delivers dry gas from the productive Sleipner field to pipelines connected to Draupner, Zeebrugge, and Easington. It also serves as a transfer point for an export pipeline from the onshore Kollsnes gas processing plant.
Equinor has heavily invested in electrifying operations at the Sleipner field. Since April, all installations in the area have been powered by electricity from shore, resulting in annual CO2 savings of approximately 1.2 million tonnes.
Media sources indicate that while efforts to repair the pipeline are ongoing, no specific timeframe for completion has been established. The suspension affects deliveries from the field to the UK, although deliveries to St Fergus in Scotland remain unaffected.
The Sleipner area includes the Sleipner Øst, Gungne, and Sleipner Vest gas and condensate fields, along with tie-in fields such as Sigyn, Volve, Gudrun, and Gina Krog
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