Statoil receives first gas in Snøhvit process plant

Norway based Statoil has received its first gas on Tuesday from the Snøhvit field in the Arctic to its process facility for LNG at Hammerfest, Norway

After five years of construction, the plant at Melkøya, or Milk Island, will soon be ready to produce Europe’s first exports of LNG.

Previously, gas lifted from the field has flowed as far as the slug catcher - the first treatment stage at the plant - but this is the first time gas has reached the process facility.

Statoil is operator for the development and operation of Snøhvit with a 33.53% interest. The other licensees are Petoro with 30%, Total E&P Norge (18.4%), Gaz de France (12%), Amerada Hess Norge (3.26%) and RWE Dea Norge with 2.81%