Gassco: Electrification of Gas System a Danger to Security

CEO of Gassco Brian Bjordal has said that the security of Norway's energy supply system is more threatened by the electrification of that system than  severe weather conditions.

Speaking to ICIS at a conference in Kuala Lumpar at the weekend, Mr. Bjordal said that while there were methods that could be utilised to deal with any electricity shutdowns, these still had to be discussed.

"The question is who has the overview of the integrated system," he said. "We need a correct understanding of the role of electrification. We have had meetings with the grid operator to discuss if we could take mitigating action. There are solutions, but it has to be looked at."

These shutdowns may occur again on new oil and gas fields should the situation not be monitored, he said.

"If you look at the new large oil fields, they will have to be powered from onshore - say, from the Kollsnes or Kårstø area. We have to see if this [might] do something detrimental to the existing system."

Supply from Norway, which suffered a number of shutdowns at Christmas, has a knock-on effect for British supply, which is increasingly reliant on the country for gas.

Both the Ormen Lange and Kollsnes plants, two of Norway's largest gas processing plants, were shut down a number of times in the week following Christmas, cutting exports to both the UK and the rest of Europe.