Statoil’s gas plant on the island of Melkøya in Hammerfest, northern Norway, remained out of operation this week following a gas leak over the weekend. It was unclear when Statoil would be able to resume production.
The plant that receives gas from the offshore Snøhvit field was evacuated because of the gas leak on Saturday. A total of 32 persons were ordered to leave after local emergency crews sent out a triple alarm that liquid methane was leaking in the production facility.
Andreas Haugåsen of the Vestfinnmark Police District told news bureau NTB there were no injuries. The leak reportedly occurred during a restart of cooling equipment Saturday morning.
Statoil reportedly had been working for several weeks on improvements at the plant that were aimed at making it more resistant to a halt in operations.
newsinenglish.no staff
