German Loop Line Completed
German gas transmission operator Open Grid Europe (OGE) said November 22 it completed a key 16 km loop line that will enable more of the country's consumers to switch from low-calorific gas to H-cal gas.
Work on the Epe to Legden loop line in North Rhine Westphalia has been completed, it said, adding that the pipe would also be gassed up and put into operation very soon once all the necessary tests are successfully finished. Landscaping over the pipe has already commenced and will continue as long as the weather permits.
OGE stated that the new 16km, 1.1-meter loop will "above all help prepare for the necessary conversion from L-gas to H-gas" and is designed for a pressure of 100 bar. It runs largely parallel to its existing gas pipeline from Rysum to Werne. The pipeline route starts at the station of the connecting pipeline to the Epe storage facility near Gronau and extends to OGE’s valve station in Legden.
A spokesman for the operator told NGW: "The Epe-Legden loop line is only 16 km long and is connected to our pipeline 63 that transports Norwegian gas from Krummhorn near Emden on the North Sea coast southward to OGE's compressor station in Werne. In future it will be possible to also connect the pipeline to the Zeelink pipe."
OGE hopes that Zeelink construction work will begin start in April 2019; currently the project is at securing planning approvals. In April 2017 the company said that its 215km Zeelink project, a joint venture of OGE and Thyssengas, will play a key role in the necessary transition from L-gas to H-gas in the region, as indigenous L-gas production declines in Netherlands and Germany.