Statoil may expand LNG plant at Hammerfest
Express optimism for greater volumes than previously planned from the Snøhvit field in the Barents Sea.
Head of early phase development in Statoil says to Reuters that Snøhvit’s onshore LNG terminal at Hammerfest may be expanded to accommodate the extra volume seen resulting from accelerated production systems and resource tie-ins that now are under study.
Statoil will next year increase its exploration on the Norwegian shelf, planning to drill 25 wells including to new wells in the Barents Sea.
Read also: Norway steps up mapping of Arctic oil
The Snøhvit facility was Statoil’s first LNG project and the world’s first built in the Arctic. The plant’s first year after coming on stream in 2007 was fraught with equipment failures, causing a number of shutdowns. Now, most of the faulty equipment has been replaced, and Statoil can look back at a year of production close to full capacity.
At peak production an LNG tanker will depart from Melkøya every five or six days, with each vessel transporting almost 150,000 cubic meters of LNG to customers worldwide.
