Statoil Resumes Production of Hammerfest LNG Plant in Barents Sea

The Hammerfest liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in the Barents Sea has resumed production on Tuesday night, after a gas leak forced Statoil to shut down the plant on Sunday night. 

"We started run-up of the Hammerfest LNG plant Tuesday night, and the plant has now reached stable operation. All necessary repairs on the plant have been completed to ensure a safe and efficient start-up," Knut Gjertsen, head of Snøhvit operations, said in a note released on Wednesday.

Statoil said it would investigate the incident. Norway’s major is the operator of the plant with 36.79% interest. Petoro (30%), Total E&P Norge (18.40%), GDF Suez E&P Norge (12%) and RWE Dea Norge (2.81%) are the other partners.

The Snøhvit project is Europe’s first export facility for LNG, according to Statoil.