Swedish survey specialist MMT has been awarded a contract by the Danish energy transmission system operator Energinet as part of the Baltic Pipe project.
The assignment includes seabed survey for a new offshore pipeline in the North Sea and for two alternative routes in Lillebælt in the inner Danish Seas.
The length or the route in the North Sea is approximately 100km. The lengths of route alternatives in Lillebælt are approximately 5km and 15km.
The scope includes geophysical seabed survey, geotechnical investigations, ROV inspections of existing utilities and landfall investigations. The assignment includes options for benthic investigations.
The survey is to be performed in the North Sea towards the Danish west coast of Jutland and in Lillebælt (inner Danish Seas) between Jutland and Fyn.
The Baltic Pipe is a potential new gas pipeline that would provide Denmark and Poland with a direct access to Norway’s gas fields.
The Baltic Pipe project has been included on EU’s list of important infrastructure projects – so-called Projects of Common Interest (PCI) – which are deemed essential to the integration of the European energy networks. As a result, the project has been granted EU funds to perform a feasibility study.
The project will enable transport of gas directly from Norway to the markets in Denmark and Poland together with their neighboring markets. Moreover, it will also enable shippers to flow gas bidirectional from Poland to the Danish and Swedish markets, and thus allow Denmark and Sweden access to Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) through the LNG import terminal in Poland.
The project is organised as collaboration between Energinet and the Polish gas transmission system operator GAZ-SYSTEM S.A.
The new pipeline would expand Europe’s gas transmission capacity by up to 10 billion cubic metres of gas per year.
The final investment decision on Baltic Pipe is expected to be reached by 2018, and is projected to start its gas transmission services by the end of 2022.