UK import pipeline to flow gas from Sept 11

LONDON, Sept 1 (Reuters) About 10 million cubic metres a day of extra Norwegian gas is expected to flow into Britain through the new Langeled pipeline from Sept 11 with full commercial operations due to start about two weeks later, an industry source told Reuters on Friday.

The race is on to get new gas import facilities up and running in time for winter to compensate for rapidly falling UK gas production.

Langeled, with a maximum flow rate of 74 mcm a day, or almost 20 percent of peak UK demand, is one of the most important.

Initially, the southern leg of the pipeline is expected to flow an average of 10 mcm of gas a day for a test period of about 15 days, the source said. It should then start full commercial operations.

Norway's state-owned Gassco, which operates the pipeline, said the southern leg of Langeled was finished and could start flowing gas as soon as the Easington terminal on the northeast coast of Britain is ready to feed it into the UK grid.

A spokesman for Britain's Centrica , which is responsible for the day-to-day operation of Easington, confirmed that work there was nearly complete.

''We will be preparing for operation during September, ready for commercial gas flows in late September or early October,'' the Centrica spokesman said.

Although the southern leg from the Sleipner Riser hub in the North Sea will be able to flow gas from this autumn, the northern leg to the huge Ormen Lange field in Norway will not flow gas until Ormen Lange starts up in October 2007. Only then can the full potential of Langeled be realised.

Ultimately, how much flows to the UK depends on how attractive the price of gas in Britain is to shippers.

REUTERS SBA GC2118