Like Ormen Lange, Statoil’s Snøhvit project in the Barents Sea is a groundbreaking technology development which has provided very valuable experience in Arctic regions.
On 20 October 2007, the first vessel with a cargo of liquefied natural gas from the Snøhvit field left port at Melkøya.
For the first time StatoilHydro is supplying gas from the Norwegian continental shelf in a cooled state by ship. LNG gives us increased flexibility in terms of marketing gas globally.
The plant at Melkøya is the first LNG production facility in Europe and it will be a key component in StatoilHydro's focus on LNG, which is the fastest growing gas market in the world. The LNG plant has suffered from operational challenges and there are still uncertainties related to the timing of regular and stable operations.
Snøhvit came on stream in August 2007, and is currently in a running-in period with testing and verification of the plant.
Towards the end of 2007, we experienced substantial start-up problems. This is not unusual when bringing facilities with such a high degree of complexity into operation, but the problems during the start-up phase have proved more extensive than expected.
The plant has resumed gas processing for periods in 2008, but great uncertainty persists about its production profile in 2008-09. These start-up problems led to increased carbon emissions as well as more soot production than expected from the high-pressure flare.
We have applied to the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority (SFT) for an extended start-up period at the Melkøya gas liquefaction plant outside Hammerfest. In addition, we have reported on increased carbon emissions.
The start-up phase has involved larger emissions of sooty particles than expected from the plant’s high-pressure flare. This caused some inconvenience for local residents in Hammerfest.
With the groundbreaking Snøhvit development, we have nevertheless taken a substantial step forward and now operate:
- in one of the world’s toughest regions
- with a new product
- intended for a new market.
The Snøhvit development has yielded many positive spin-offs for Hammerfest in particular, and for Norway’s three northernmost counties of Finnmark, Troms and Nordland in general.
