Norway's StatoilHydro ASA (STO) said Thursday it stopped production of liquefied natural gas at its Snoehvit processing plant March 18 due to a leakage in a sea water heat exchanger.
Repairs to the affected equipment in the cooling water part of the plant will take a "number of weeks, but we hope not many weeks," StatoilHydro spokesman Sverre Kojedal said. "We stopped production and immediately started to rectify the leakage" when it was discovered, he said.
A similar problem affected the heat exchangers before Christmas when the Snoehvit gas field's onshore processing plant at Melkoeya near Hammerfest in northern Norway was shut down for a period.
"We have done this (repair) operation before now, so we're better skilled to do it faster," Kojedal said.
StatoilHydro said the problems are a normal part of the startup process of a complex project like Snoehvit, but the field will be subject to an extended string of repairs and replacement work stretching well into 2009.
"This is something we should expect. It's in our plan for the running period, we're prepared for short or longer shutdowns," Kojedal said.
Portions of the gas side, as opposed to water cooling part, of the plant at Melkoeya need to be modified after problems were discovered during the startup.
"The running period will end when we have done the turnaround shutdown this summer," Kojedal said. "During that shutdown we will try to modify and get rid of some of the problems. As we see it today we will also need 2009 to do final fixes," he added.
The plant is situated so far north that freezing temperatures and ice and snow hinder repair work for much of the year, leaving just a few-month summer window for major operations.
The beleaguered plant, which to date has produced just six cargoes of LNG, was due to start regular commercial deliveries from Dec. 1, 2007, already well behind earlier estimates. It has been producing at only 60% of its planned plateau capacity since Jan. 25 after a series of glitches were rectified. StatoilHydro said earlier this year that the field might not reach capacity before 2009, and that delay will dent 2008 output by 25,000-30,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day.
StatoilHydro owns a 33.53% stake in Snoehvit, Petoro 30%, Total SA (TOT) 18.4%, Gaz de France (1020848.FR) 12%, Hess Norge (HES) 3.25% and RWE DEA 2.81%.