Norway's Hammerfest LNG back online
The 4.65mn metric ton/year Hammerfest LNG plant in Norway, closed in September 2020 after a serious fire, is now back on stream, its operator Equinor reported on June 2.
The terminal's restart will provide some modest relief to European gas markets, where prices remained at record highs despite the arrival of warmer weather, as Russia has already cut off supply to five EU states for refusing to pay for their gas in rubles via conversions at Gazprombank.
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Equinor said its priority during the repairs was safety, noting that a scheduled turnaround and ordinary maintenance had also taken place during the downtime. The Arctic Voyager, Arctic Lady and Arctic Princess LNG carriers are anchored up outside the plant's site in Melkoya, in Norway's far north, and are ready to receive LNG.
Normally it takes four or five days to fill storage tanks at the plant before cargoes are loaded onto ships. At full production capacity, a ship will depart Melkoya every five days.
"With the start-up of Hammerfest LNG, we add further volume to the already substantial gas deliveries from Norway," Equinor's vice president for marketing, midstream and processing, Irene Rummelhoff, said in a statement. "This is of great significance in a period when predictable and reliable supplies are highly important to many countries and customers."
Equinor's partners at Hammerfest LNG are Equinor, Petoro, TotalEnergies, Neptune Energy and Wintershall Dea.