It is using Allseas Group’s 95,000-gt pipe-laying vessel Solitaire (built 1972) for the first stage of the Polarled installation project.

The 482-km pipeline will transport gas from the Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian Sea to Nyhamna in western Norway.

The Norwegian state-owned oil major says the gas pipeline will be laid in water depths of up to 1,265 metres.

“Even though smaller pipelines have been laid in waters exceeding this depth, this is the first time a gas pipeline measuring 36 inches in diameter is being installed at such water depth,” it said.

Statoil