Offshore staff
STAVANGER, Norway – Equinor and its partners have committed to spend NOK13.2 billion ($1.34 billion) on upgrading the Hammerfest LNG plant (HLNG) at Melkøya, northern Norway, which receives gas from fields in the Barents Sea.
The plan for development and operation (PDO) of Snøhvit Future involves adding onshore gas compression to extend plateau production flow from the Snøhvit reservoir and help maintain gas exports from HLNG through 2050; and electrification of the facility.
In normal production conditions, HLNG delivers 6.5 bcm/yr, around 5% of all Norwegian gas exports.
For the compression project, Equinor will install three large modules at the plant and undertake extensive modifications. In the Hammerfest region, a tunnel and transformer station will be built to bring electric power to Melkøya.
Statnett will construct a 420-kV power line from Skaidi to Hyggevatn (the site of the transformer station), with the Snøhvit partners providing some of the related investment as the new line will ensure higher grid capacity to Hammerfest.
Electrification at HLNG will entail replacing the current gas turbine generators with power from shore, cutting emissions, and installation of electric steam boilers.
The Snøhvit license owners are: Equinor Energy (36.79%), Petoro (30.00%), TotalEnergies EP Norge (18.40%), Neptune Energy Norge (12.00%) and Wintershall Dea Norge (2.81%).
The Snøhvit field is in the central Hammerfest basin in the southern Barents Sea in a water depth of 310 – 340 m. It comprises the Snøhvit, Albatross and Askeladd structures.
Onshore compression will help maintain the required pressure for the LNG plant as the reservoir pressure drops, also reducing the risk of fluid liquids accumulating in the multiphase pipeline from the field to the shore.
Onshore compression and conversion to electrical operation of HLNG should start in 2028.
12.21.2022
