Gas Sales Agreement With Gazprom Marketing & Trading

Hydro signed an agreement for sale of gas to Gazprom Marketing & Trading, the UK-based subsidiary of the Russian energy company OAO Gazprom, on Wednesday.

According to the agreement, Hydro will supply 500 million cubic metres of gas to Gazprom Marketing & Trading in the British market.

"We have been a stable supplier of gas to Great Britain for a considerable time, and we will increase our gas volumes entering the British market in the years to come", said J?rgen Rostrup, Senior Vice President in charge of Hydro’s market activities.

The gas agreement has a duration of one year starting from October 1, 2006.

The gas will be transported through the southern section of the gas pipeline Langeled that will open for the transport of Norwegian gas between Sleipner and Easington in Great Britain in October. The northern part of Langeled, which will be completed in October 2007, will stretch from Sleipner to Nyhamna in Aukra municipality. From there, what will be the world’s longest undersea gas pipeline will transport gas from the Ormen Lange field to the British market.

"Since 2001 Hydro has doubled its gas production from approximately five to 10 billion cubic metres. Production from our fields will continue to increase, and we expect to reach over 16 billion cubic metres in 2010, when the production from Ormen Lange reaches its plateau production," Rostrup said.