Norwegian legislators voted against LNG plant electrification and prefer to have CCS
LNG News Editor
The Norwegian parliament, the Storting, has ordered the government to consider an alternative way to cut carbon emissions at Western Europe's largest liquefied natural gas export plant at Hammerfest and to consider the use of carbon capture instead of electrification.
State-owned oil and gas company Equinor and partners were seeking approval to replace the use of gas power at the plant and to instead use electricity from the national grid to help reduce emissions.
Island debate
The Hammerfest liquefaction plant is located on Melkøya island and Equinor had already submitted a plan for development and operation of the project to the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.
Electrification would have entailed replacing the current gas turbine generators at the Hammerfest plant with power brought from the shore.
Equinor’s Hammerfest project changes fell under the government programme to electrify major industrial operations to support compliance with the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and required government assent.
The responses from local residents in northern Norway were mostly negative because of concerns about power shortages and other issues.
In a vote the parliament ordered Norway's minority centre-left government to assess carbon-capture and storage (CCS) as an alternative to electrification by 2029.
Norway’s parliament had debated the issue over the previous week. The oil and gas industry is strategic for the nation and produces multiple benefits so that developments are keenly debated in public, in the press and in parliament.
Three parliamentary motions to delay or abandon the electrification project, or otherwise reduce power output through the continued use of gas at the plant were filed by opposition parties.
The parliament's Standing Committee on Energy and the Environment then recommended that all these proposals be rejected.
A fourth proposal to evaluate the possibility of deploying CCS for the Hammerfest facility to reduce emissions instead of drawing power from the electricity grid was then presented and gathered majority support in the chamber.
The Hammerfest project was contentious with locals in Northern Norway who have stood up against green measures whatever the cost to people and many also sided with the rights of Indigenous Sami reindeer herders in the region.
The Sami herders said that they were worried that the power masts needed to transport the power as well as tunnels and other infrastructure would be built on reindeer pastures.
They also argued and were supported by many members of parliament that the sight and sounds from the huge masts and cables would frighten their animals and disrupt age-old traditions.
In addition, the upgrade would have seen high activity levels in the Hammerfest region, such as the construction of a tunnel and a transformer station as well as all the laying and setting of transmission cables.
Power concerns
The local people of the region were additionally concerned that the move would lead to a shortage of power as the Hammerfest plant would consume most of what was available and would prevent the establishment of new industries and future job creation.
Equinor had noted in December 2022 that electrification would have reduced carbon-dioxide emissions from the plant by around 850,000 tonnes per year.
Hammerfest produces 4.65 million tonnes per annum of LNG from a single liquefaction Train as well as 340,000 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas and 730,000 tonnes of condensate.
The Snøhvit field serving the Hammerfest plant lies in the central part of the gas basin in the southern Barents Sea in water depths of 310-340 metres.
Snøhvit was the first field to be developed in the Barents Sea and the gas field comprises the Snøhvit, Albatross and Askeladd structures.
The licence owners of the Snøhvit field are operator Equinor along with Norway’s state body Petoro, French major TotalEnergies, Neptune Energy of the UK and Germany’s Wintershall Dea.
