As reported in the media, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Norwegian counterpart Jens Stoltenberg yesterday launched the 1200 kilometre Langled pipeline which will deliver natural gas from Norway’s giant Ormen Lange field to the UK.

When production from the field begins during the autumn of 2007, about 70 million cubic meters of gas per day, a volume comparable with 20 percent of UK demand for gas, will flow through the Langeled pipeline.

DNV Energy Chief Operating Officer Remi Eriksen, who attended the opening cermony in London, says that DNV assisted “on many frontier challenges from concept selection to more detailed design aspects.”

“Regarding Langeled, we have been responsible for the verification of the detailed design, quality surveillance onboard the laybarge during installation and also the risk assessments of the marine operations relating to the intermediate tie-in at Sleipner,” he says.

He continues, “Langeled is an important contribution to the UK energy supply. The UK is one of Europe’s biggest consumers of natural gas and without Langeled, and Ormen Lange, the natural gas supply would have been challenged as the production from UK-based resources are declining rapidly.”

The Langeled pipeline and receiving facilities in Easington, UK, are part of the Ormen Lange project, the largest gas field under development on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and currently one of the largest ongoing engineering projects in the world.

“I think Hydro and its partners have pioneered a way of thinking which allows them to manage the risk in a proactive manner,” says Eriksen. “The point is not to avoid risk, but to take the right risks and manage them professionally. DNV’s technology understanding blended with competency within risk management have received very positive feedback.”