Aibel upgrades Snøhvit LNG facility

Aibel has confirmed that it will perform over 100 000 hours of work in connection with a shutdown that will improve the stability of the Snøhvit LNG facility at Melkøya near Hammerfest, Norway.

The facility closed on 2 May and work will be performed over the course of the next month. It is hoped that the maintenance and upgrade work will result in a more robust plant. 

Shutdown Coordinator, Finn Engeness, said: “Among the tasks are the replacement of more than 200 valves, replacement of filter media, inspections and assistance to the German equipment supplier Linde, who will replace fittings in tanks and process columns. In addition there are all the planned maintenance projects, as well as statutory modifications and modifications to the Snøhvit Improvement Project 2.”

Qualified labour

Aibel will have approximately 420 operators at the facility day and night combined for the first couple of weeks. After that, reductions will take place until the end of the shutdown in June. A total of more than 900 operators will be mobilised for Aibel during the shutdown.

Third shutdown

The shutdown is the third shutdown in connection with Aibel's M&M framework agreement with Statoil for the Snøhvit plant, which was awarded in 2005.

Aibel's Location Manager in Hammerfest, Jan Eirik Karlsen, said: “Our day to day operations at the plant and the two previous shutdowns in 2009 and 2011, have given us good experience that we have used in the preparations. In that process we have also had good use of our expertise and capacity in Haugesund and Singapore. This gives us great confidence that we can successfully complete the tasks.”

Adapted from press release by Callum O'Reilly

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/lng-shipping/08052014/aibel_to_upgrade_lng_facility_549/