By Nora Buli
Norway’s gas pipeline system serving Britain and continental Europe will deliver high volumes this year but is likely to fall short of last year’s record export level, operator Gassco said at the start of the busy winter season on Wednesday.
Norway became Europe’s largest gas supplier following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, meeting over 30% of consumption, but volumes fluctuate depending on demand and the extent of maintenance and other outages that limit capacity.
Overall deliveries for the period January to August totalled 76.8 billion cubic metres (bcm), equivalent to 848.6 terawatt hours (TWh), and compare with 80.3 bcm for the same period in 2024, Gassco data provided to Reuters showed.
Thomson ReutersNorwegian pipeline gas delivery volumes January-August
“It is difficult to reach a record this year and I think that will be a (too) challenging goal to aim for,” Gassco’s head of system operations Alfred Skaar Hansen told Reuters.
In 2024, Gassco set a record of 117.6 bcm of gas transported through its system for the full year.
The company operates an 8,800 km (5,468-mile) pipeline network connecting Norwegian gas fields to Germany, Belgium, France, Britain and Denmark, and deliveries are typically close to 340 million cubic metres (mcm) per day.
After extensive annual maintenance in recent weeks during which delivery fell as low as 217 mcm, the Gassco system is now expected to deliver high regularity for the October 1-March 31 winter season, the Norwegian state-owned company said.
On Wednesday, supply nominations stood at 277.8 mcm for the day, with most maintenance work now completed, Gassco data showed.
Capacity at the Kollsnes processing plant will remain temporarily reduced until October 18, however, due to a technical error in the onshore electricity grid supplying power to the site.