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Snøhvit stop after gas leak

Statoil's LNG plant on Melkøya had been working uninterruptedly for 185 before it had to shut down production on Sunday. Photo: Thomas Nilsen

Statoil has been forced to shut down production from its Melkøya LNG plant in northern Norway after a gas leak.

Location

The leak occurred on Sunday evening due to a pump failure at the processing facility that produces LNG of the natural gas from the Snøhvit gas field in the Barents Sea. The plant was shut down and the system was depressurized, Finnmarken writes.

Production had not started up again on Tuesday morning and the company is still working to solve the technical problems.

Before the stop on Sunday, Statoil had 185 days of uninterrupted production at the plant. That was the best six months at the plant since it opened in 2007. Statoil’s LNG plant on Melkøya is planned to be closed in the month of May for turnaround.