Melkøya upgrading completed
Production was resumed this weekend at Statoil’s Snøhvit plant outside Hammerfest in northern Norway after a three-month planned shutdown for upgrading and maintenance.
Statoil says in a press release that the extensive refurbishment and modification of the Hammerfest LNG facility on Melkøya is intended to make the gas processing and liquefaction plant more robust and to ensure that it can maintain a high level of production in the future.
The plant ran at virtually full capacity from February until the shutdown began in August, and the project has aimed to safeguard that high level of performance. Amongst other operations, a number of heat exchangers and other systems have been replaced and modified.
A total of 1,550 people were engaged at the plant during the shutdown. All work included in the original plans was done, and the facility was restarted as planned.
The LNG plant outside Hammerfest is expected to be capable of operating at full capacity after the turnaround, and this will be verified by a performance test at the end of the year, according to Statoil.
