- Equinor (EQNR +1.0%) says it now expects its Hammerfest liquefied natural gas processing plant in the Arctic will reopen in March 2022 to allow more time for repairs following last September's fire.
- The company had previously scheduled a restart for this October, but the scope of work and COVID-19 restrictions has now pushed back the estimated start date.
- Europe's only large-scale LNG plant, Hammerfest can process 18M cm/day of gas when fully operational.
- In addition to the damage caused by the fire to the air intake on one of the plant's five gas turbines, Equinor says extensive firefighting work potentially exposed more than 70K unique equipment components to seawater while inspections show that more than 180 km of electric cable must be replaced.
- Equipment will not arrive before summer or autumn, while several compressors must be removed and sent to the supplier for repair, the company says.
- Last week, Norway's oil and gas safety watchdog presented its investigation into the fire, exposing several breaches of operating procedures.