Norway's Energy Company Equinor Launches Hammerfest LNG After Extensive Repairs

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd June, 2022) Norway-based energy company Equinor said on Thursday that it had brought the Hammerfest liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant back online after long extensive repairs caused by a fire.

A fire at Hammerfest LNG � Europe's only large-scale LNG plant � on the Norwegian island of Melkoya occurred on September 28. 2020. The company said that the plant would be back in operation by October 1, 2021, after extensive repairs. However, the company then repeatedly postponed the opening dates. In January, the company said that Hammerfest LNG would reopen on May 17, but announced on May 16 that it had delayed the launch of the plant for another week.

"After extensive repairs and improvement work, Hammerfest LNG is back in production after the fire in September 2020.

The first liquefied natural gas (LNG) is now on tank at Melkoya," the company said in a statement.

The company added that the plant accounts for over 5% of Norway's gas exports. The plant "delivers around 6.5 billion cubic meters per year, equivalent to the annual gas demand of 6.5 million European households," it said.

The statement further read that several LNG tankers, including Arctic Voyager, Arctic Lady and Arctic Princess, are currently anchoring off the coast of Melkoya waiting to receive new cargoes from the plant. The company added that it usually takes four-five days to fill the storage tanks at the plant before the shipment to receiving terminals. Ships will be leaving the plant every five days given that the full production of the plan is restored.