Natural gas pipeline will help U.K. deal with an anticipated surge in imports.
One of Europe’s largest domestic gas pipeline projects is entering its second phase after winning government approval from the United Kingdom to enter an environmentally sensitive national park. The owner, National Grid Gas PLC (NGG), Warwick, must complete the $1.6-billion, 314-kilometer project by October or pay a hefty financial penalty to operators of the import terminals it will serve at Milford Haven, south Wales.
“This is one of the biggest [projects] we have ever built,” says Kees Ezinga, head of operations for contractor Nacap Land & Marine Joint Venture. NLM is currently completing the $475-million, 118-km phase one and will lay roughly half of the $820-million, 196-km second section this year. Total costs include $290 million of pipe supplied by NGG.
National Grid Gas
U.K. granted approval for pipeline to cross delicate park land.
Doing the project in two years is tough, says Ezinga. In the Welsh hilly terrain, “we have to cold-bend every second pipe,” he says. And with protesters occupying one site for three weeks in November, future challenges may be more than technical.
Crossing valleys of south Wales, the pipeline had its opponents from the start, but protest intensified this month when phase two was granted approval to enter the Brecon Beacons national park. It was “a huge blow,” complained Chris Gledhill, the park’s chief executive.
In approving phase two, U.K. minister Peter Truscott said he had weighed environmental impacts with national energy needs. But with the terminals already committed, the decision was inevitable. The company had to submit a detailed environmental impact statement assessing 16 possible routes for approval by the ministry.
Nacap Land & Marine
Project has tight schedule to avoid stiff late penalties
The pipeline is one of two major systems being built to serve the U.K.’s increasing dependence on imported gas. Self-sufficient from the North Sea since the 1970s, the U.K. is forecast to import half its gas within about five years and 80% by 2015.
The main imports will be liquid natural gas, shipped to Milford Haven, and Norwegian product piped from the North Sea’s Ormen Lange field to Easington, Yorkshire, on the east coast.
After a winter shutdown, NGG plans to restart work on the 94-km westward extension of the Easington line from Pannal, Yorkshire, over the Pennine hills to Nether Kellet, in Lancashire. Due to start operations this October, the 122-cm-dia line will be big enough for 20% of U.K. gas demand, according to NGG.
Mercer
But the trans-Pennine line is dwarfed by the Milford Haven project; the U.K.’s biggest ever, says senior project manager David Mercer. If this 122-cm-dia line fails to open by next October, NGG will owe late fees to the terminal owners of $4 million a month to $70 million a year.
The $490-million Milford Haven Dragon terminal will open in the last quarter of this year. The adjacent $1.2-billion South Hook terminal will open in two phases, early in 2008 and then 2009. The terminals’ combined output will equate to a daily average of 69 million cu m.
Starting at Milford Haven, phase one will join the existing grid at Aberdulais, near Swansea (see map). Phase two will head north from Felindre, near the Swansea end, and skirt the Brecon Beacons national park, cutting into the park along portions of its northern edge.
NLM will build the 90-km eastern section, and Murphy Pipelines Ltd., London, will do the rest. Surface installations for both phases are by Amec PLC, London.
With 90% of phase one complete, NLM is focusing on trenchless work under rivers at seven sites, in an effort to finish the job by April.
Ezinga
NLM’s laying fleet includes nearly 100 side booms and four bending machines. To backfill trenches, NLM imported two 60-tonne mobile padding machines from the U.S.
This year, NLM will roughly double the number of excavators from 200 in phase one. For trenchless work, NLM is pulling in pipe behind auger and rock borers where ground conditions allow. Under rivers and in wet ground it is building 17 lined mini tunnels with 1.8-m-dia borers from Germany. NLM will double its borers to eight this year. Tunneling or other underground techniques, totalling 6.7 km, are being used at nearly 250 river, highway and railway crossings.
“Last year, we managed to [lay] 100 km of pipe in two spreads. But we have four spreads to go and are bringing in extra equipment,” says Ezinga. “Starting in April, we only have four months to [finish] this job.”
