Equinor, the operator of the Hammerfest LNG export plant in northern Norway, said that a gas leak occurred at the facility on Melkøya Island on May 31 and had been stopped, though it was too early to say when production would resume.
“Equinor’s emergency response organisation has been demobilised and the emergency services have left Melkøya,” said Equinor.
“The leak occurred in connection with a valve in one of the plant’s cooling circuits,” Equinor explained.
“The gas that leaked is used for cooling during production of LNG,” the company added.
Equinor’s emergency response organisation was immediately mobilised to face the incident and it was handled in collaboration with emergency services.
“Relevant authorities were notified. There were 98 people present at the plant when the incident occurred. All personnel are accounted for and no injuries were reported,” stated Equinor.
“It is too soon to say when production at the plant can be resumed,” Equinor added.
Fire recovery
A fire had previously occurred at the Hammerfest plant on September 28 in 2020 and led to a prolonged closure for repairs until mid-2022.
No one was hurt in the 2020 fire and much of the damage to the plant was caused by the sustained use of high-powered hoses to suppress the fire and stop it re-igniting.
Equinor concluded shortly afterwards that a fire had started in the filter housing of a gas turbine generator.
The fire investigation noted that the cause of the fire was spontaneous ignition in the filters in the turbine’s air inlets, caused by excessively high temperatures over a long period of time.
Feed-gas for the single-Train Hammerfest liquefaction facility comes from the Snøhvit gas field in the Barents Sea.
Hammerfest exports around 4.70 million tonnes of LNG and most of the volumes are delivered to European destinations like France, Spain, the Netherlands and Lithuania.
Most feed-gas for Hammerfest comes from a total of 20 wells in the Snøhvit and Albatross fields.
This output is transported to land through a 143-kilometre (89-mile) pipeline.
Equinor has 37 percent of the Snøhvit field and the LNG plant and the other large partners include French major TotalEnergies and Germany’s Wintershall Dea.
