Norway's Equinor plans upgrade of Hammerfest LNG to boost plant efficiency and lifespan as well as jobs
Norwegian energy company Equinor said plans have been agreed to invest $1.33 billion in upgrading the Hammerfest LNG plant, Western Europe’s only baseload export facility, and to extend its lifespan towards 2050.
Cargo from repaired Hammerfest plant re-establishes Norway’s seaborne European LNG supply link
The first cargo to leave the Hammerfest liquefaction and export plant in northern Norway since the September 2020 fire is on its way to re-connecting the Norwegian seaborne gas supply chain for the European Union.
Equinor says Hammerfest LNG export plant is likely to be shut until October 2021 for fire damage repairs
Equinor, the Norwegian oil and gas company, said the Hammerfest LNG export plant that suffered a fire last month will likely be closed until October 2021 for repairs, cutting more than 60 cargoes from the European market for the next year.
Equinor to keep Hammerfest LNG plant in Northern Norway closed until September 23 after leak alarm
Equinor, the operator of the Hammerfest LNG export plant on Melkoya Island in Northern Norway, said the facility would remain shut until September 23 after a gas leak.
Emergency services were sent to the plant on September 13 after an alarm was sounded during preparations to restart the plant after maintenance.
Feed-gas for the single-Train Hammerfest liquefaction facility comes from the Snohvit gas field in the Barents Sea.
Hammerfest exported 4.72 million tonnes of LNG in 2019 compared with 5.17MT in the previous year.
Most of the volumes were delivered to European destinations like France, Spain, the Netherlands and Lithuania.
The Norwegian facility also exported small quantities last year to Asian nations such as China and India.
Hammerfest had been scheduled to restart on September 13 after a short shutdown due to an outage.
Equinor had given no previous reason for the original shutdown.
Europe’s only large-scale LNG plant has a capacity to process 18 million cubic metres of gas per day.
Most feed-gas for Hammerfest comes from a total of 20 wells in the Snohvit and Albatross fields.
This output is transported to land through a 143-kilometre pipeline
A previous scheduled maintenance saw Hammerfest reopen on June 18 after several weeks of shutdown.
Equinor has 37 percent of the Snohvit field and the LNG plant and the other partners include French major Total and Germany’s Wintershall Dea.
