Page 5 - EurOil Week 17 2021

EurOil COMMENTARY EurOil

PSA releases findings from

Hammerfest fire probe

Equinor has confirmed that the plant’s restart will be six months later than anticipated

NORWAY DEAD insects within five-year-old air-intake fil- vicinity to extinguish the blaze before it spread
ters and heat from anti-icing panels are believed any further. The PSA has ordered Equinor to
WHAT: to have caused a serious fire that broke out last devise a plan to correct non-conformities by
The PSA has concluded September at the Hammerfest LNG plant, June this year. Specifically, it has asked the com-
its investigation of last Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) pany to make changes to manning, maintenance,
year’s Hammerfest LNG has concluded after an investigation. Further- management and control.
fire. more, Equinor has confirmed that the plant’s Hammerfest LNG is Norway’s only LNG ter-
restart will be six months later than previously minal and produces around 5.6bn cubic metres
WHY: anticipated. per year of super-cooled gas at full capacity, using
Insects within five-year- The industry regulator published a report on the offshore Snohvit field as its resource base.
old intake filters are its investigation into the incident on April 22. It
believed to have caused determined that there were serious breaches of Delayed launch
the fire. regulations at the Equinor-operated facility. In a statement on April 26, Equinor said Ham-
The company had, as a cost-cutting measure, merfest LNG was now expected to return to
WHAT NEXT: changed its maintenance schedule for air filters operations at the end of March 2022. Previously
Hammerfest LNG’s from annual replacements to inspection-based the company had said the facility would come
relaunch has been maintenance. These filters had not been replaced back on stream by the start of October this year.
delayed until March 2022. in six years and contained dead insects, which Equinor has revised the schedule “based on
might have lowered the temperature necessary extensive analyses and mapping of damages,”
for the filters to self-ignite, the PSA said. it said, noting that coronavirus (COVID-19)
“Technical fire tests and simulation of tem- delays were also a factor.
perature development in the turbine’s filter hous- “We have worked systematically on get-
ing support the likelihood that the fire broke out ting an overview of the damages and scope of
because pre-filters in the air intake auto-ignited,” work to bring the plant’s technical condition
the PSA said. back to the required standard,” the company’s
These tests indicate that a biomass build-up, senior vice-president for onshore plants, Grete
composed primarily of insects, in the pre-filters Haaland, said. “There is still some uncertainty
may have lowered their auto-ignition tempera- related to the scope of work; however, our best
tures. The control valve for hot-oil supply to the start-up estimate is March 31, 2022, based on
air intake’s anti-icing panels had been opened current knowledge.”
manually to get rid of excess heat in the hot-oil What seems to have taken the most time is
circuit. This caused the temperature in the filter the replacement of damaged electric cables,
housing to rise sufficiently to auto-ignite the Equinor said. The new models will not be deliv-
pre-filters. ered until this summer or autumn, it said, and
The fire caused material damage to the GTG4 several other major components such as com-
air-intake and filter housing and consequential pressors will also have to be removed and sent
damage from extinguishing work to electrical, for repair. More than 70,000 unique equipment
instrumentation and mechanical equipment, components in total were potentially exposed to
according to the PSA. seawater during the firefighting, and have been
While no one was injured in the fire, it was systematically checked to develop a repair plan,
also fortunate that there were vessels in the according to the company. ™

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