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The damage after the fire at the production plant outside Hammerfest is so extensive that the company does not believe it can start again until October 1 of next year.
DRAMATIC: The Melkøya facility on the outskirts of Hammerfest caught fire on September 28.
Bjarne halvorsen
Published:,
The Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority previously described the fire at the facility in late September as “one of the most serious incidents in Norwegian oil history.”
In addition to burns in the air intake of one of the plant’s five power turbines, large amounts of seawater from the extinguishing work have damaged, among other things, electrical equipment and cables, Equinor said in a statement. press release this Monday morning.
– This is a decision Equinor has made based on the extent of the damage after the fire. We have seen that quite extensive work is needed, communications manager Eskil Eriksen tells E24.
Both the Norwegian Oil Safety Authority and the police have started investigating the fire.
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– If heads roll in Equinor, we don’t know. But there will be problems.
Cause still unknown
No person was injured in the fire. The cause of the fire is still unknown and the investigation is still continuing.
The Hammerfest plant processes and cools gas from the Snøhvit field to liquefied natural gas (LNG). It is then shipped by ship to the world market.
– We will not be able to produce in the period when you make the upgrade, says communications manager Eskil Eriksen on Monday morning.
It further states that it is too early to say anything about what the closing will cost. Eriksen emphasizes that delivery obligations to Equinor are “handled in accordance with each contract.”
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Melkøya fire will be investigated: – A serious incident
Various deviations
The investigation of the Melkøya fire will continue throughout the year, according to Equinor.
– The Hammerfest LNG fire was a very serious incident. The various investigations into the incident will be important in identifying measures that will prevent similar incidents from happening again, says Grete B. Haaland, director of all ground facilities at Equinor.
When the fire started, the plant had just restarted after being closed for four weeks for maintenance.
A few days before the fire, several discrepancies were found at the gas plant. An audit showed that the 2017 deviations had not been satisfactorily followed.
– I see this as very dramatic, yes. There shouldn’t even be a spark in a gas plant, it’s life-threatening, the group’s union representative Bjørn Asle Teige told VG when the fire was raging.
It is not known if there is any connection between the earlier diversions and the dramatic fire.
Two weeks before the fire, the plant was also affected by a gas leak. Equinor has previously stated that the leak was located in an area other than the fire.
At the same time, the oil company did not want to rule out a connection between the two incidents.
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Equinor did not track deviations from 2017
Does not affect employees
The closure will not affect employees.
– The layoffs are not relevant. We have a lot of work ahead of us and we will need more capacity to prepare for production again.
Construction manager Andreas Sandvik emphasizes that safety has the highest priority and that they will not commission the plant until they are sure it can be done safely.
– For this reason, we have worked systematically and exhaustively to map the damage after the fire and assess the technical state of the installation, it says in the press release.
He further affirms that they still have a lot of mapping work left and that the uncertainty is great.
Sandvik says Equinor’s best estimate for start-up is October 1 next year.
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Equinor: Fire and gas leak in two different places.
