| Because of its relatively small land mass and few | | | | necessary excavation duties in order to prepare the |
| deposits, the United Kingdom, more than other | | | | ocean floor for the piping. Deep, dark, and chilly, of |
| European companies, imports an inordinate amount of | | | | course, but let's not forget that at the deepest part, |
| its natural gas from neighboring countries so that its | | | | 2953 feet beneath the surface, the water pressure, |
| population can comfortably heat their homes and | | | | exceeding 1500 psi would crush a human skull. Of |
| power industries. The "neighbor" the United Kingdom | | | | course divers in a mini-sub or bell could do the job, but |
| reached an amiable trade agreement with just | | | | why waste the energy when there are remote |
| happened to be, not just across the pond, but, in fact, | | | | controlled robots about? The enormous lengths of |
| under the sea. The U.K. will be getting a large share of | | | | pipes were of course assembled above the surface. |
| its natural gas from Norway, many miles across the | | | | This required two of the world's largest pipe-laying |
| frigid Baltic Sea. | | | | ships, working in tandem, assembling pipes and |
| This engineering marvel was quite an undertaking by | | | | continuously laying them on the ocean floor. |
| the Norwegian oil company, Norsk Hydro. Their hopes | | | | Norsk Hydro obviously felt the risk and exertion of |
| were to connect their massive discovery, the Ormen | | | | mind power and bank accounts was well worth it |
| Lange undersea gas field, to oil processing and refining | | | | because the pipeline opened in 2006, and has been |
| plants in Britain. The pipeline, at its completion, would | | | | pumping its crude between Norway and the U.K. since |
| hope to carry 20% of Britain's necessary gas supplies | | | | then. The length of the pipeline is 746 miles in its |
| each year, and provide a stable, reliable supply for at | | | | entirety, and was assembled in two great sections. |
| least the next 40 years. Construction proved to be an | | | | The cost of the project was 3.3 billion dollars and |
| enormous endeavor. The need to work, in some | | | | received financial backing from several companies, |
| areas, at over a mile beneath the sea's chilly, | | | | including Centrica, Statoil, Norsk Hydro, Royal Dutch |
| windswept surface, called for cutting edge technology. | | | | Shell, and Conoco Phillips. The total annual capacity of |
| One of the advanced techniques employed because | | | | the Langeled Pipeline is around 70 billion cubic feet of |
| of the ruggedness of the ocean floor involved two | | | | natural gas, supplying a fifth of Britain's need. |
| remote control robots. These robots performed the | | | | |