Equinor ASA’s liquefied natural gas plant on the Norwegian island of Melkøya suffered a leak on Wednesday, the company said, possibly derailing a planned expansion.
Although the leak has been stopped and normalization was under way as of Thursday, Equinor said: “It is too early to say when production at the plant will be able to resume.”
The damage involved a valve in one of the facility’s cooling circuits. “The gas that was leaked is used for refrigeration during the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG),” he said in a press release.
The 98 staff members present at the time of the incident were counted uninjured, according to Equinor.
The state-owned majority owner plans to electrify the plant to increase its processing capacity and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 850,000 metric tons a year, according to Equinor’s March 23 annual report.
The plant had just resumed operations in June 2022 after a fire in September 2020.
Equinor sees the project in the northern city of Hammerfest as key to reducing its global warming emissions. It serves the Snøhvit gas and condensate field, which operator Equinor (36.79%) calls Norway’s largest industrial project, via a 99.4-mile (160-kilometer) pipeline. The Barents Sea field produced 28,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2022, down from 20,000 boed in 2019 before the 2020 fire shutdown. The planned electrification of the field aims to ensure the operation and exports of Melkøya until 2050.
Equinor reported eight incidents of oil and gas leaks at the “severe” level, which it defines as a leak rate of at least 2.2 pounds (0.1 kilograms) per second, in 2022. “This is the lowest number of leaks ever recorded and came close to meeting our ambitious target of a maximum of seven leaks by 2022. No serious well control incidents have been recorded,” its annual report stated.
In April, a Reuters report citing an unnamed Equinor spokesman said its Njord A oil and gas platform had leaked less than 200 litres. The Norwegian Sea facility resumed operations the following day on April 18, the spokesman said, according to Reuters.
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