Mon Nov 23, 2009 6:51am EST
OSLO, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Norwegian oil and gas producer Statoil (STL.OL) said on Monday that the start-up of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant Snoehvit was delayed by at least two more weeks due to electrical problems.
Snoehvit, Europe's only LNG production facility and the world's first in the Arctic, has been out for a major repair since mid August. It briefly restarted earlier this month before shutting down once again due to start-up troubles.
"The current estimate is that production can resume in 14 days at the earliest," Statoil said in a statement.
After the turnaround, a fault was found in one of the plant's utility systems, which has now been repaired. A second fault related to an electric motor which forms part of the cooling process for the LNG was found.
"The unexpected faults which have occurred during the first running-in phase are not related to the work done during the turnaround."
Statoil operates Snoehvit, the only offshore field in operation in the Barents Sea. Its partners are Norwegian state-owned Petoro, France's Total (TOTF.PA) and GDF Suez (GSZ.PA), U.S. Hess (HES.N) and German RWE (RWEG.DE).
(Reporting by Wojciech Moskwa) ((wojciech.moskwa@reuters.com; +47 22 93 69 62; Reuters messaging: rm://wojciech.moskwa.reuters.com@reuters.net))
Source:http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSOSN00251820091123?rpc=401
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