Gas from the Norwegian shelf to Europe

Norwegian gas in figures

• Norway exported about 122 billion Sm³ of gas in 2025, equivalent to more than 30 % of gas consumption in the EU and the UK.
• About 95 % goes by pipeline to other European countries; the rest is exported as LNG.
• The gas pipelines have a total length of more than 8,800 km.

The figures are from norskpetroleum.no (read 29 Sep 2026). Gassco, which runs the system, gives 8,600 km of pipelines; the length depends on which pipelines are counted.

Rich gas and dry gas

The gas from the wells is not only methane. It also contains heavier components – ethane, propane, butanes and naphtha, together called NGL – and often condensate, which turns liquid as pressure and temperature fall.

• Rich gas is gas that still contains NGL.
• Dry gas is what is left once the NGL has been removed, mostly methane. Dry gas is what is sold in Europe.

Some fields send the rich gas ashore to remove the NGL there. Others process the gas at the field and send dry gas straight into the export pipelines.

The processing plants onshore

• Kollsnes (Øygarden, western Norway) separates rich gas into dry gas and NGL. The NGL continues through the Vestprosess pipeline to Mongstad, where it is split into naphtha and LPG.
• Kårstø (Tysvær, Rogaland) receives rich gas and unstabilised condensate. The dry gas continues by pipeline, while ethane, propane, butanes, naphtha and condensate are shipped out.
• Nyhamna (Aukra, Møre og Romsdal) processes gas from Ormen Lange and from the Polarled pipeline from the Norwegian Sea, including gas from Aasta Hansteen.
• Melkøya (Hammerfest) turns the gas from Snøhvit into LNG, see below.

Gassco is the operator of Nyhamna, Kollsnes, Kårstø and Vestprosess (norskpetroleum.no and gassco.eu, read 29 Sep 2026).

The pipelines: Gassled and Gassco

• Gassled is a joint venture that owns most of the gas infrastructure: the pipelines, processing plants and terminals. The state is an owner through the SDFI (the State's Direct Financial Interest), managed by Petoro.
• Gassco is a state-owned company, established in 2001, that runs the system as a neutral and independent operator: it allocates capacity and steers the gas flow through the pipelines.
• The tariffs for using the pipelines are set by the Ministry of Energy. They are meant to give the infrastructure owners a reasonable return, while the profit from oil and gas activities is taken out on the fields.

The gas companies sell their gas themselves. Gassco does not own the gas, but makes sure it gets there. On the globe on the analysis page the pipelines are shown in the “Transport pipelines” layer.

The receiving terminals in Europe

The gas comes ashore at six receiving terminals that Gassco is responsible for:

• United Kingdom: St Fergus and Easington
• Germany: Dornum and Emden
• Belgium: Zeebrugge
• France: Dunkirk

Gas also goes to Denmark and on to Poland through Baltic Pipe (norskpetroleum.no). From the terminals the gas enters each country's own grid and is traded at hubs such as TTF and NBP; see the guide to oil and gas prices.

LNG from Melkøya

The gas from Snøhvit flows through a 143 km pipeline from the seabed to Melkøya off Hammerfest. There it is cooled into liquefied natural gas (LNG), at about −162 °C. The gas then takes up about 1/600 of its volume as a gas (EIA) and can be carried by LNG carriers.

• LNG can sail to wherever the price is best, in Europe or Asia. Pipeline gas has to go where the pipeline goes.
• CO₂ separated from the gas at Melkøya is sent back to the field and stored below the seabed.
• On the LNG carriers and how they are chartered: see the guide to tankers and LNG carriers.

And the oil?

Oil is easier to move than gas. It goes either by ship straight from the field, often on shuttle tankers, or by pipeline to terminals onshore, among them Sture and Mongstad in western Norway and Teesside in the UK (norskpetroleum.no). That is why oil from an FPSO far from shore can be sold without a pipeline, while a gas discovery needs pipeline capacity.

Follow the gas on the globe

• Switch on “Gas flows now” and “Gas storage – fill level” on the analysis page. The gas flows come from the ENTSOG Transparency Platform and show how much gas enters Europe, including from Norway.
• The gas fields have their own pages, for example Troll, Ormen Lange, Snøhvit and Aasta Hansteen.

Sources

• Exports of Norwegian oil and gas – norskpetroleum.no – export volume 2025, pipeline and LNG shares, share of EU and UK consumption, pipeline length; read 29 Sep 2026
• The oil and gas pipeline system – norskpetroleum.no – Gassled, Gassco, tariffs
• Onshore facilities – norskpetroleum.no – Kollsnes, Kårstø, Nyhamna, Melkøya, Sture, Mongstad, Vestprosess
• Receiving terminals – Gassco
• Process plants – Gassco (in Norwegian)
• Liquefied natural gas explained – U.S. Energy Information Administration – temperature and volume
• ENTSOG Transparency Platform

The guides are written by OESA students to explain concepts and how things fit together. They are not investment advice. Figures that are not definitions carry a source and a date; if you find an error, let us know at styret@oesa.no.