After months with technical problems, the LNG plant at Melkoya is now running at more than 90 percent of capacity, director of the Hammerfest LNG, Knut Henrik Dalland says to newspaper Finnmark Dagblad. The plant has had serious technical problems since it started production in August 2007 and long ran at only 60 percent of capacity. -506 tons of processed LNG per hour means that production is close to 93 percent of what the plant was designed for, Mr. Dalland, says. The increased production was achieved after a technical upgrade this fall. Two cooling elements were then replaced. Another four such elements are to be replaced in 2009. There is still a capacity problem in the cooling tower, which is the very key part in the production of LNG, Finnmark Dagblad reports. StatoilHydro might eventually decide not to bring the Melkoya LNG plant to its projected 100 percent of capacity. That might be too expensive. -As long as the plant produces close to maximum, it might be an alternative to let it produce like today, [at least] if it turns out to become too expensive to catch the last seven percent, head of information in Hammerfest LNG, Ms. Kari Mette Darell Holand admits.
