Norwegian oil and gas producer Statoil received the first gas from its Snoehvit field in the Arctic on Tuesday and said it would open Europe's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility next month.
Snoehvit, one of Statoil's biggest development projects, will tap gas from the Barents Sea in the Arctic and turn it into LNG for export to the United States or elsewhere.
The nearly $10 billion project will from next year produce 5.7 billion standard cubic metres of natural gas, condensed into about 70 LNG tankers that will each year leave the Arctic port of Hammerfest on Norway's northern tip. "The valve from the Snoehvit field is opened," Statoil spokesman Sverre Kojedal said. "After this milestone we begun our last phase of preparations ... (and) in 3-4 weeks plan to start LNG production." It is not yet clear if the first LNG cargo vessel, due to leave Hammerfest in late September, will take the gas to the United States, to another European country or elsewhere.
"This is an important day after many years' work and preparation," said Geir Pettersen, Statoil senior vice president for the Snoehvit project. "We now have some hectic weeks ahead of us adjusting the process plant to produce LNG." Snoehvit has 193 billion cubic metres of natural gas in recoverable reserves. Statoil chose to tap the gas with remotely-operated subsea installations, not traditional platforms that could be unstable in harsh Arctic conditions.