Hammerfest LNG to See Year-long Outage after Fire

Norway's Equinor said on October 26 that its LNG plant in Hammerfest would be closed for repairs for up to 12 months, after a serious fire broke out at the facility on September 28.

Besides the damage caused by the fire on the air intake at one of the plant's five power turbines, seawater used to extinguish the blaze has damaged other auxiliary systems such as electrical equipment and cables. How long it will take to complete repairs will depend on the delivery time for equipment and current Covid-19 restrictions.

Inspection work continues, but Equinor's best-estimate is that it will take until October 1 2021 for Hammerfest LNG to restart production. Equinor will use the time to also carry out other maintenance and repair work planned for 2021, including during a scheduled turnaround next spring.

Equinor, Norway's Petroleum Safety Authority and Norwegian police are investigating the incident.

"The fire at Hammerfest LNG was a serious incident," Equinor's senior vice president for onshore facilities, Grete Haaland, said in a statement. "The various investigations into the incident will be important in order to identify measures that will prevent similar incidents from happening again."

Hammerfest LNG produces 5.6mn metric tons/year of LNG, using gas from the Snohvit field in the Barents Sea.