"Start-up in 2010 now looks much more likely than 2009," one key player said.
Gassco has studied two possible solutions in detail. One option is a new pipeline running from the Norwegian Sea southwards to the Tampen area, and from this point into the UK pipeline system and/or to the Kaarsto processing complex north of Stavanger on Norway's west coast.
This alternative, favoured by Skarv operator BP and probably also ExxonMobil, now appears to be dead in the water after fellow partners Statoil and Shell decided not to nominate volumes for the proposed pipeline.
"Not
