Hammerfest LNG restart delayed until March 31 2022
The Hammerfest LNG plant in Norway's far north is not expected to resume operations until March 31, 2022, its operator Equinor reported on April 26, six months later than previously anticipated.
A serious fire broke out at the facility in September last year. Norway's Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) concluded this month that pre-filters in the air intake of a power turbine likely ignited, after a buildup of insects lowered the system's ignition temperature. It noted "serious" regulatory breaches at the facility.
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Equinor previously said it might take until October 2021 to get Hammerfest LNG back up and running. In a statement this week, though, the company said it had updated the schedule "based on extensive analyses and mapping of damages."
"We have worked systematically on getting an overview of the damages and scope of work to bring the plant’s technical condition back to the required standard," Equinor's senior vice president for onshore plants, Grete Haaland, said. "There is still some uncertainty related to the scope of work, however our best start-up estimate is March 31, 2022, based on current knowledge."
The most time-consuming activity seems to be the replacement of electric cables connected to the power station where the fire broke out, Equinor said. New cables will be delivered in the summer or autumn of this year, while several other major components including several compressors must also be removed from the plant and sent for repair. The company also noted that more than 70,000 unique equipment components were potentially exposed to seawater during the firefighting and had been systematically checked to prepare a repair plan.
The 4.2mn metric ton/year Hammerfest LNG plant receives gas from the offshore Snohvit field. Equinor and its partners last week took a decision on extending Snohvit's production plateau by two years at a cost of 3.2bn kroner ($385mn).