Record gas pipeline live

A RECORD-breaking sub-Humber engineering feat is now operational, delivering gas across the UK.

The £150m infrastructure project, 30m below the Energy Estuary, is helping to ensure the reliability of supply across the UK - handling a quarter of the fuel needed to heat homes and keep business running.

National Grid completed a new gas pipeline earlier this year, replacing a trench-laid gas pipe which had become exposed to volatile tides in one of the busiest waterways in the world.

The pipeline is part of the national transmission system and connects the import terminal at Easington, to the wider gas network. Having been fully commissioned, it is operational and can now transport between 70 to 100 million cubic metres.

Emma Ford, head of gas construction for National Grid, said: “Complex engineering projects such as these require a huge amount of skill and dedication from all those involved. To have delivered this ahead of the cold winter months despite Covid-19 restrictions is a fantastic achievement.”

The organisation began in 2016 with joint venture project partners Skanska, A.Hak and Porr.

It involved an 18-month journey drilling a 3.65m diameter tunnel beneath the estuary to enable the new pipeline to be installed. Hydraulic thrust machines pushed sections of pipe on rollers into the new tunnel and the pipes were methodically pushed into the tunnel which had been flooded with treated water to aid installation. After one pipe section had been installed, the next was moved into position and welded to the one in front.

The push continued until all 4.96km of pipeline were fully installed in July this year, securing a place in the Guinness World Records, by becoming the world’s longest hydraulically inserted pipe.