Scotland–Northern Ireland pipeline

The Scotland-Northern Ireland Pipeline (SNIP) is a 24 in (610 mm), 135 km (84 mi) long natural gas pipeline which runs from Twynholm, Scotland to Islandmagee in Northern Ireland.

[1] In 1994 Premier Transco awarded the contract for design and construction of the SNIP to European Marine Contractors (EMC), a 50-50 venture of Brown & Root Inc. and Saipem.

[2] Pipe production began in 1994 at the Hartlepool, England, plant of British Steel plc.

The route and construction of the pipeline were both controversial due to concerns of it disrupting a weapons dump in and around Beaufort's Dyke.

[3] There are no accurate figures available from the UK Ministry of Defence for its disposal operations but it estimates that over a million tons of conventional weapons were disposed of between 1946 and 1963 with Beaufort's Dyke being the main site, just 25 miles off the coast of Larne.