Both the municipality authorities and the Chamber of Commerce in Oulu are interested in having a pipeline from Hammerfest or Kirkenes via Bothnia to Central Europe, Österbottens Tidning reports.
According to Oulu City Manager Matti Pennanen, the Norwegian gas company North Energy is already studying the possibilities. He says the pipeline should not only go to the northern parts of the Gulf of Bothnia, but be extended to markets in Europe.
- We have had discussions with certain Norwegian actors and will continue these taks over the next weeks, Pennanen said at a seminar in Stuttgart, Germany, on Monday, according to Österbottens Tidning.
Norway’s Foreign minister Jonas Gahr Støre in August presented a plan for extending the existing North Sea pipeline system to the Barents Sea. - The development of the Barents Sea as a new European gas region opens large perspectives for economic and industrial development in the north, Støre said.
At present, Snøhvit is the only operational gas field in the Barents Sea. The gas is pumped from underwater installations via a pipeline to a LNG processing plant onshore near Hammerfest in Finnmark. Huge LNG tankers then bring the liquid gas to markets in Europe and USA.
