Thirty-year gas sales deal

The buyers were the same as those who had signed the initial deals in 1973 – Germany’s Ruhrgas, Dutch Gasunie, Gaz de France and Belgium’s Distrigas.

Ruhrgas was the biggest purchaser, signing up for a 50 per cent share of the gas remaining in Ekofisk up to the expiry of the production licence in 2028.

Calculations by Phillips show that more than 100 billion cubic metres of gas with a sales value of NOK 70-80 billion could be recovered from the field over these three decades.

Since 1977, the operator has delivered almost 300 billion cubic metres of gas to Emden with a gross sales value in excess of NOK 200 billion.

Including contracts secured by Ruhrgas with the Troll group, Norway was set to become the biggest gas exporter to Germany in 2005 with no less than 32 per cent of deliveries.

Gassledningen til emden blir tatt i bruk, forsidebilde, historie,

Norwegian gas sales were expected to plateau at some 75-80 billion cubic metres in 2005 – in other words, a gross export value of about NOK 50 billion per annum in 1998 value.

The gas terminal at Emden has been the most important reason for the strong position acquired by Norwegian gas in Germany, despite the competition from Russian supplies.