Statoil’s Snøhvit project in northern Norway has been struggling with problems ever since the LNG-factory was set into production in 2007. Statoil has had several production stops to fix the problems without any improvements. This autumn the plant had a production stop for three months. However, the problems have yet not been solved.
All replaced and upgraded parts of the cooling plant were started up and appeared to function. But two technical challenges have arisen during this phase. The first was a fault in one of the plant’s utility systems, which has now been repaired. Arising later in the running-in period, the second fault related to an electric motor which forms part of the cooling process, Statoil reports in a press release.
