Abstract

Great effort has been undertaken to investigate potential geohazards in relation to the development of the Ormen Lange gas field offshore Mid-Norway.

The field is located in the scar left after the giant, tsunami-generating Storegga Slide, which occurred roughly 8200 years ago, and the slide risk has consequently received particular focus. The studies have been multi-disciplinary in character, and have involved a number of companies, universities, and research institutions. The results of the project led to a significant advance in the understanding of the Storegga Slide in particular, and submarine slope instability in general, and played an important role in the approval of field development by Norwegian authorities.

This book comprises 26 individual contributions representing the wide span of topics addressed in the project. The main scope is to provide a state-of-the-art report on geohazard investigations in a high latitude continental margin setting. Most of the data and results published in this book would not have reached beyond the confidential report stage unless the license partners of the Ormen Lange license had agreed that this information deserves a wider audience.

• Multidisciplinary and covers most themes treated in slope stability studies prior to the field development phase
• Provides a link between basic research and applied geohazard studies, with direct relevance for risk evaluation in relation to field development activities, such as pipeline design, drilling of wells, structure foundation etc.
• A state-of-the-art report on geohazard investigations in a high latitude continental margin setting in relation to field development activities